BV  4655 
Morgan, 

1945. 
The  ten 


.M7  1901 

G.  Campbell  1863 

commandments 


THE        TEN 
COMMANDMENTS 


BT 

REV.  G.  CAMPBELL  MORGAN 

AOTHOK     or 

'•  The  True  Estimate  of  Life,"  etc. 


New  York  Chicago 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 

London  and  Edinburgh 


Copyright.  1901.  by 

SCBte  iJiBiiB  Institute  uolportage  AssociaTxo)* 

OF  Chicago. 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


TO  THE  SACRED  MEMORY 
OP 

DWIGHT  I,YMAN  MOODY 

AT  WHOSE  EXPRESS  DESIRE 

THESE  STUDIES  WERE  WRITTEN  AND  WHO 

SO  PERPECTI.Y  UNDERSTOOD  AND 

SO  GRACIOUSI.Y  REVEAI^ED  IN  I,IFE  AND  SERVICE 

THE  TRUTH  THAT  WITH  GOD 

LAW  IS  THE  EXPRESSION  OF  LOVE 


CONTENTS 

PAOB 

Introductory i 

The  First  Commandment      ......  15 

The  Second  Commandment 25 

The  Third  Commandment    ......  36 

The  Fourth  Commandment 44 

The  Fifth  Commandment 52 

The  Sixth  Commandment 65 

The  Seventh  Commandment 76 

The  Eighth  Commandment 88 

The  Ninth  Commandment 97 

The  Tenth  Commandment         ......  107 

A  New  Commandment   .......  118 


The  Ten  Commandments. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

"And  He  humbled  thee,  and  suffered  thee  to  hunger,  and  fed 
thee  with  manna,  which  thou  knewest  not,  neither  did  thy 
fathers  know ;  that  He  might  make  thee  know  that  man  doth 
not  live  by  bread  only,  but  by  every  word  that  proceedeth  out 
of  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  doth  man  live."— Deut.  viii.  3- 

".  .  .  So  shall  My  word  be  that  goeth  forth  out  of  My 
mouth;  it  shall  not  return  unto  Me  void,  but  it  shall  accom- 
plish that  which  I  please,  and  it  shall  prosper  in  the  thing 
whereto  I  sent  it."— Isaiah  lv.  ii. 

"...  Jesus  answered  and  said,  It  is  written,  Man  shall 
not  live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every  word  that  proceedeth  out 
of  the  mouth  of  God."— Matt.  iv.  4. 

These  three  passages  are  linked  together  by  the 
common  thought  that  human  life  is  perfectly  condi- 
tioned when  it  is  governed  by  the  words  that  proceed 
from  the  mouth  of  God. 

Deuteronomy  records  the  last  messages  of  Moses  to 
the  children  of  Israel.  In  this  particular  passage  he 
states  the  meaning  of  the  varied  circumstances  through 
which  God  has  permitted  them  to  pass.  "He  humbled 
thee,  suffered  thee  to  hunger,  and  fed  thee  with 
manna."  To  what  purpose?  'That  He  might  make 
thee  know  that  man  doth  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but 

r 


8  The  Ten  Commandments. 

by  every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  the 

Lord." 

Isaiah  is  the  messenger  of  God  to  a  people,  who, 
through  disobedience,  have  passed  into  captivity. 
Chapter  Iv.  records  one  of  the  messages  in  which  he 
contrasts  their  state  of  Hfe  in  captivity  with  the  bless- 
edness and  joy  experienced  when  living  in  perpetual 
obedience  to  Divine  law.  It  is  of  this  law  he  speaks 
when  he  says,  "So  shall  My  word  be  that  goeth  forth 
out  of  My  mouth." 

In  the  New  Testament  we  see  Jesus,  God's  perfect 
man,  passing  through  the  severest  temptation.  Re- 
plying to  the  first  suggestion  of  the  enemy,  He  reveals 
the  realm  in  which  He  lives  when  He  says,  "Man 
shall  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every  word  that 
proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God." 

Let  the  passages  which  indicate  the  common  thought 
be  lifted  from  their  setting. 

i.  "Every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth 
of  the  Lord." 

ii.     "My  word  that  goeth  forth  out  of  My  mouth." 

Hi.  "Every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth 
of  God." 

Thus  is  revealed  the  supreme  verity  upon  which 
the  Mosaic,  Prophetic,  and  Christian  economies  were 
based.  The  methods  have  been  different  and  progress- 
ive ;  the  purpose  has  been  ever  the  same.  The  crea- 
tion of  the  Hebrew  nation,  its  preservation,  and  all 
its  magnificent  ritual  and  organization  were  directed- 
to  the  end  of  giving  expression  to  the  first  divine  in- 
tention of  the  blessedness  of  man,  receiving  his  law 


Introductory.  9 

from  the  mouth  of  God,  and  yielding  unquestioning 
obedience  to  it. 

The  prophetic  office  was  that  of  forthtelling  this 
Word  of  God  principally  to  those  who  were  disobedi- 
ent. Its  exercise  was  ever  characterized  by  fierce  de- 
nunciation of  rebellion,  glowing  descriptions  of  the 
glory  of  the  Divine  Kingship,  and  passionate  appeals 
to  a  return  to  loyalty. 

Jesus,  the  author  of  Christian  faith,  lived  from  be- 
ginning to  end  without  deviation  or  exception  by  the 
words  proceeding  from  the  mouth  of  God.  In  His 
passion-baptism  He  bore  the  penalty  of  the  disobedi- 
ence of  the  race,  and  in  His  resurrection  took  again 
His  life,  that  He  might  communicate  it  to  sinful  men, 
that  in  its  energy  they  also  might  obey  the  law  of 
God. 

Evidently,  therefore,  according  to  the  consistent 
teaching  of  Scripture,  man  only  understands  the  pos- 
sibility of  his  being  as  he  becomes  acquainted  with  the 
law  of  God ;  and  only  realizes  this  possibility  as  he  lives 
by  the  words  proceeding  from  the  mouth  of  God. 

The  reason  for  this  is  found  in  the  fact  that  within 
the  Divine  intention,  every  human  life  moves  through 
present  probation  to  future  purpose.  Men  are  born, 
not  merely  for  to-day,  but  for  God's  to-morrow.  Issue 
and  consummation  are  out  of  sight,  and  are  perfectly 
known  to  the  Creator  alone.  The  trouble  is  that  so 
many  live  as  though  the  whole  purpose  of  life  were 
Realized  in  the  little  day  on  earth.  Yet  men  know  that 
\t  IS  not  so,  that  this  passing  life  is  preparatory  and 
probationary.    To-day  men  sow,  to-morrow  they  reap. 


lO  The  Ten  Commandments. 

The  reaping  depends  upon  the  sowing.  If  the  ultimate 
end  is  to  be  in  harmony  with  the  will  of  the  eternal 
love,  they  must  obey  the  law  proceeding  from  that  love : 
they  must  live  by  every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the 
mouth  of  God. 

THE  SUPREME  DUTY  OF  MAN. 

The  supreme  duty  of  every  man  is  that  he  should 
discover  and  obey  these  words.  If  he  live  from  day  to 
day,  from  week  to  week,  from  month  to  month,  and 
from  year  to  year  without  reference  to  that  law,  hoping 
that  after  being  regardless  of,  if  not  rebellious  against 
it,  he  will  at  last  slip  into  some  happy  state,  then  surely 
he  must  indeed  be  blind  and  foolish. 

In  the  close  of  the  Book  of  Ecclesiastes,  the  preacher 
says,  "This  is  the  end  of  the  matter;  all  hath  been 
;  heard:  fear  God,  and  keep  His  commandments;  for 
I  this  is  the  whole  of  man"  (xii.  13).  Not  "the  whole 
duty  of  man,"  as  it  was  in  the  Authorized  Version,  but 
the  "whole  of  man."  That  is  to  say,  if  a  man  fear  God 
and  keep  His  commandments,  he  is  a  whole  man. 
Judged  by  this  standard,  how  many  there  are  that  are 
not  whole  men.  This  very  book  of  Ecclesiastes  reveals 
the  fact.  "Vanity  of  vanities,  saith  the  preacher ;  all  is 
vanity."  That  is  the  sum  total  of  life  lived  "under  the 
sun,"  among  things  material  and  transient;  life  in  a 
hemisphere.  The  whole  man  is  realized  when  man 
"fears  God  and  keeps  His  commandments."  That  is, 
when  both  hemispheres  are  recognized.  He  who  lives 
without  reference  to  the  law  of  God  fails  to  fulfil  the 
possibilities  of  his  own  being.    He  is  not  a  man  until 


Introductory.  H 

he  lives  by  the  words  that  proceed  from  the  mouth  of 
God. 

In  the  Epistle  of  James  is  found  a  word  of  deep  sig- 
nificance. "Whosoever  shall  keep  the  whole  law,  and 
yet  stumble  in  one  point,  he  is  become  guilty  of  all," 
(ii.  lo).  Placing  this  side  by  side  with  the  passage 
already  referred  to  in  Ecclesiastes,  there  are  two 
phrases  with  a  common  denominator,  *'the  whole": 
*'the  whole  man,"  "the  whole  law.^"  Herein  lies  the 
explanation  of  the  apparent  severity  of  Jameses  utter- 
ance. Men  are  apt  to  think  that  if  there  be  ten  com- 
mandments, of  which  they  obey  nine,  such  obedience 
will  be  put  to  their  credit,  even  though  they  break  the 
tenth.  That,  however,  is  to  misunderstand  God's 
purpose  of  perfection  for  man,  and  the  consequent  per- 
fection of  His  law.  The  ten  words  of  Sinai  were  not 
ten  separate  commandments,  having  no  reference  to 
each  other.  They  were  ten  sides  of  the  one  law  of 
God.  The  teaching  of  Jesus  reveals  the  fact  that  these 
commandments  are  so  inter-related  that  if  a  man  of- 
fend in  one  point  he  breaks  the  unity  of  the  law,  and, 
therefore,  of  his  own  manhood.  It  is  by  "every  word 
that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God  doth  man 
Kve." 

If  these  positions  are  established  there  need  be  no 
apology  for  a  frank  and  honest  facing  of  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments. They  were  the  comprehensive  words  of 
God,  uttered  for  the  government  of  a  people  whose  dis- 
tinctive glory  lay  in  the  fact  that  they  were  a  theocracy, 
under  the  immediate  Kingship  of  the  Most  High,  and 
whose  recurring  shame  lay  in  their  revolt  from  that 


12  The  Ten  Commandments. 

authority.  These  words  embody  a  perfect  law  of  life 
tor  probationary  days.  They  presuppose  human  fail- 
ure and  sin;  and,  therefore,  they  will  have  no  place 
in  the  government  of  God  in  heaven.  Not  that  man 
will  do  the  forbidden  things  there,  but  the  glorified 
nature  of  man  will  have  put  the  committing  of  such 
things  beyond  the  realm  of  possibility.  In  some  meas- 
ure the  Christian  dispensation  antedates  the  heavenly 
state,  for  its  whole  genius  lies  in  the  fact  that  newborn 
souls  share  by  that  new  birth  in  the  motives  and 
impulses  of  God. 

Man  still  lives,  however,  both  in  his  own  personality 
and  in  his  relation  to  his  fellow-man,  in  perpetual  touch 
with  the  old  nature.  The  words  of  God  are,  therefore, 
of  perpetual  importance  and  value.  He  needs  to  be 
solemnly  reminded  that  the  law  of  the  spirit  of  life  in 
Christ  sets  him  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death,  but 
not  from  the  law  of  God.  Every  word  of  the  Deca- 
logue is  repeated  with  emphasis  and  new  power  in  the 
Christian  economy. 

In  the  series  of  studies  now  beginning  it  is  proposed 
to  consider  the  essential  law  contained  in  the  ten  words 
of  the  Decalogue,  in  every  case  endeavoring  to  trace 
the  enforcement  and  emphasis  of  that  law  in  the  light 
of  the  Christian  dispensation. 

The  severity  of  the  law  of  God  is  the  necessary  se- 
quence of  His  infinite  love.  The  Eternal  Heart  pur- 
poses and  seeks  the  ultimate  p'erfection  of  every  hu- 
man being.  To  condone  sin  in  any  way,  or  excuse  it, 
would  be  to  make  impossible  the  realization  of  that  pur- 


Introductory.  13 

pose.  There  is  infinite  significance  in  the  opening 
words  of  the  Swan  Song  of  Moses,  the  lawgiver : 

The  Lord  came  from  Sinai, 

And  rose  from  Seir  unto  them, 

He  shined  forth  from  mount  Paran. 
.     And  He  came  from  the  ten  thousands  of  holy  ones : 
'    At  His  right  hand  was  a  fiery  law  unto  them. 
^   Yet,  He  loveth  the  peoples ; 

All  His  saints  are  in  Thy  hand : 

And  they  sat  down  at  Thy  feet; 

Everyone  shall  receive  Thy  words, 

Deut.  xxxni.  2,  3, 

The  fiery  law  is  the  most  perfect  expression  of  His 
love  for  the  peoples.  Let  men  then  with  reverent  sin- 
cerity stand  in  the  light  of  His  law,  that  they  may 
understand  the  perfection  of  His  love. 


THE  FIRST  COMMANDMENT. 

"Thou  shalt  have  none  other  gods  before  Me." — ExoDua 
«x.  3. 

Of  the  ten  words  of  Sinai  the  first  four  deal  with 
man's  relation  to  God.  Of  these  the  first  brings  us  face 
to  face  with  the  object  of  worship:  *'Thou  shalt  have 
none  other  gods  before  Me."  The  second  reveals  the 
true  mode  of  worship:  *Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee 
a  graven  image,  nor  the  likeness  of  any  form  that  is  in 
heaven  above."  The  order  of  worship  is  to  be  spirit- 
ual, not  material.  The  third  states  that  this  relation  of 
man  to  God — that  of  worship — is  to  he  a  perpetual  one 
governing  all  his  life :  "Thou  shalt  not  take  the  name 
of  the  Lord  thy  God  in  vain;  for  the  Lord  will  not 
hold  him  guiltless  that  taketh  His  name  in  vain."  The 
fourth  provides  that  a  specific  seventh  of  man's  time 
is  to  be  set  apart  for  the  express  and  sole  purpose  of 
worshipping  God:  "Remember  the  Sabbath  day  to 
keep  it  holy." 

Having  laid  the  basis  of  life  and  character  the  Dec- 
alogue proceeds  to  deal  with  the  relations  of  man  to 
his  fellows.  First  comes  the  family  relation:  "Honor 
thy  father  and  thy  mother" ;  second :  "Thou  shalt  not 
kill";  third:  "Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery"; 
fourth:  'Thou  shalt  not  steal";  and  fifth;  "Thou  shalt 

15 


1 6  The  Ten  Commandments. 

not  bear  false  witness  against  thy  neighbor."  The  re- 
maining one  is  also  of  a  moral  nature,  but  shows  that 
the  heart  of  man  is  to  be  jealously  guarded  against 
wrong  desire:  "Thou  shalt  not  covet  thy  neighbor's 
house,"  and  so  forth. 

The  subject  of  the  present  chapter  is  the  first  com- 
mandment, "I  am  the  Lord  thy  God.  .  .  .  Thou 
shalt  have  none  other  gods  before  Me."  These  are 
simple  words,  but  their  majesty  would  thrill,  if  it  were 
fully  appreciated. 

THE   NAME  OF  GOD. 

There  is  deep  significance  in  the  name  by  which 
God  here  declares  Himself,  JEHOVAH.  It  is  a  com- 
bination of  three  Hebrew  words,  which  may  be  trans- 
lated into  an  English  form  thus :  Yehi,  "He  will  be," 
Hove,  "being,"  and  Hahyah,  "  He  was."  A  com- 
bination is  made  from  the  three  words  by  taking  the 
first  syllable  of  the  first  YEHi,  the  middle  syllable  of 
the  second,  hOVe,  and  the  last  syllable  of  the  third, 
hahyAH,  so  that  we  have  the  name  YEHOVAH. 
The  whole  name  means,  "He  that  will  be.  He  that  is, 
He  that  was."  Thus  the  very  name  brings  man  into 
the  presence  of  the  Supreme,  the  Eternal,  the  Self- 
existent  God,  Who  is  because  He  is — a  great  and  per- 
petual mystery  to  the  finite  mind  of  man,  and  for  the 
most  part  beyond  all  human  analysis.  If  the  mind 
reach  out  to  the  limitless  stretches  of  future  genera- 
tions, God  says,  "I  am  He  that  will  be."  If  men  think 
of  the  present  moment,  with  all  its  marvelous  mani- 
festations of  life  and  order  and  mystery  and  revela- 


The  First  Commandment.  17 

tion,  God  says,  "I  am  He  that  is."  If  the  mind  be 
carried  as  far  back  as  possible  into  infinite  spaces  of 
the  past  God  says,  "I  am  He  that  was." 

Whether  man  thinks  of  his  origin,  of  his  present 
condition,  or  of  his  future  destiny,  God  says,  "I  AM" ; 
and  man  cannot  escape  the  great  revelation  of  God 
which  is  put  into  the  word,  "I  am  JEHOVAH."* 

Such  is  the  statement  that  leads  up  to  the  first  law. 
But  God  says  more,  ''I  am  Jehovah,  thy  God."  The 
word  God  here  is  Elohini,  the  plural  of  the  word 
Eloah,  meaning  the  supreme  object  of  worship.  God 
faces  man,  saying,  "I  am  Jehovah,  thy  God — He  that 
will  be,  He  that  is.  He  that  was,  the  supreme  object  of 
worship."  Upon  that  is  based  the  commandment;  and 
to  take  it  without  that  definition  of  the  Person  of  God 


*This  interpretation  of  the  meaning  of  the  word  Jehovah 
has  been  severely  criticised,  and  among  other  things  has  been 
designated  "elaborated  absurdity."  The  interpretation  is  that 
of  the  late  Mr.  Thomas  Newberry,  the  author  of  the  English- 
man's Bible,  a  Hebraist  of  conspicuous  ability.  Of  course  it  is 
a  personal  conclusion  by  one  who  interprets  the  Old  Testament 
in  the  light  of  the  New.  The  original  Hebrew  form  YHVH 
left  open  the  question  of  the  vowels.  The  generally  accepted 
idea  that  the  word  Jehovah  is  a  hybrid  of  the  combination  of 
the  vowels  of  ADONAI  and  YHVH  is  also  a  conclusion  ar- 
rived at,  and  cannot  be  fairly  stated  to  be  a  certainty.  In  corre- 
spondence with  Mr.  Newberry  on  the  point,  after  the  criti- 
cisms referred  to,  he  said  in  a  letter  to  me :  "The  explanation 
of  the  Divine  title  Jehovah  is  given  as  a  simple  statement  of 
facts  on  the  authority  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures.  In  Rev.  i.  4, 
the  Holy  Ghost  has  so  interpreted  its  meaning."  This  may 
appear  to  some  to  be  "elaborated  absurdity."  There  are  others 
of  us  who  look  upon  it  as  sound  and  spiritual  exposition. 


1 8  The  Ten  Commandments. 

is  to  rob  it  of  its  great  force.    "I  am  Jehovah  thy  God. 
.    .    .    Thou  shalt  have  none  other  Gods  before  Me.'* 

I. — The  Meaning  of  the  Commandment. 

If  God  is  what  he  claim  to  be — He  that  will  be. 
He  that  is,  He  that  was — then  He  must  be  the  supreme 
object  of  worship.  If  it  be  true  that  He  is  Jehovah, 
man's  God — ^then  the  commandment  is  a  reasonable  one, 
and  it  must  be  a  very  unreasonable  thing  to  have  any 
other  God  beside  Him.  In  the  very  necessity  of  the 
case,  if  the  word  spoken  by  God  be  true,  then  God 
is  sufficient,  and  God  is  God.  There  cannot  be  two 
who  fulfil  that  description  of  limitless  life.  Point  to 
another  god,  and  he  must  be  limited.  That  becomes 
an  impertinence  and  a  sham  to  a  man  who  has  had  a 
vision  of  the  true  God.  Therefore  it  is  based  upon  the 
necessity  of  the  case — upon  the  most  absolute  reason- 
ableness— that  God  first  declares  Himself  and  His 
glory,  and  then  utters  the  first  great  word,  "Thou 
shalt  have  none  other  gods  before  Me." 

Every  man  needs  a  god.  There  is  no  man  who  has 
not,  somewhere  in  his  heart,  in  his  life,  in  the  essentials 
of  his  being,  a  shrine  in  which  is  a  deity  whom  he 
worships.  It  is  as  impossible  for  a  man  to  live  with- 
out having  an  object  of  worship  as  it  is  for  a  bird  to 
fly  if  it  is  taken  out  of  the  air.  The  very  composition 
of  human  life,  the  mystery  of  man's  being,  demands 
a  center  of  worship  as  a  necessity  of  existence.  All 
life  is  worship.  There  may  be  a  false  god,  at  the 
center  of  the  life ;  but  every  activity  of  being,  all  the 
energy  ol  life,  the  devotion  of  powers — these  things 


The  First  Commandment.  19 

are  all  worship.  The  question  is  whether  the  hfe  and 
powers  of  man  are  devoted  to  the  worship  of  the  true 
God  or  to  that  of  a  false  one. 

There  is  a  center,  a  motive,  a  reason,  a  shrine,  a 
deity  somewhere — something  which  man  worships.  It 
has  been  said  that  when  man  dethrones  God,  he  deifies 
and  worships  himself.  There  are  men  to-day  of  whom 
it  may  be  said  that  they  worship  themselves  with  all 
their  heart  and  ^yith  all  their  strength  and  with  all 
their  mind,  and  themselves  only  do  they  serve.  In 
every  case  man  demands  a  god,  a  king,  a  lawgiver — • 
one  who  arranges  the  programme,  utters  the  com- 
mandments, and  demands  obedience. 

THE  GENESIS   OF   IDOLATRY. 

This  incontrovertible  fact  reveals  the  genesis  of 
idolatry.  The  moment  a  man  gets  out  of  touch  with 
God  and  loses  the  vision  of  Him  Who  says,  "I  am 
Jehovah  Elohim,  the  Lord  thy  God,"  he  puts  some- 
thing else  in  the  place  of  God.  Think  of  the  gods  of 
the  heathen,  as  mentioned  in  the  Bible — Moloch,  Baal, 
and  Mammon!  The  worship  of  Moloch  was  the  de- 
scent of  man  into  the  realm  of  awful  cruelty,  that  of 
Baal  took  men  through  the  depths  of  bestiality  and 
impurity,  and  that  of  Mammon  debased  its  devotees  to 
the  lust  which  dreams  that  power  lurks  in  possession. 
Moloch,  Baal  and  Mammon  were  the  gods  of  the 
heathen ;  and  these  are  they  that  men  are  worshipping 
until  this  hour.  Although  these  gods  go  by  other 
names  in  this  cultured  and  enlightened  twentieth  cen- 
tury, yet  the  world  is  crowded  with  idolatei's  who  wor* 


20  The  Ten  Commandments. 

ship  them.  One  need  not  go  to  Africa,  China,  or  India 
for  specimens — they  may  be  found  at  home. 

In  the  great  cities  to-day  are  hundreds  of  men  who 
are  offering  human  sacrifices  to  the  Moloch  of  their 
lustful  cruelty.  Such  care  not  how  many  people  die 
in  the  struggle,  so  long  as  the  base  cravings  of  their 
hearts  are  satisfied.  Great  numbers  of  men  worship 
Baal,  the  god  of  beastiality.  How  true  this  is,  may  be 
shown  by  the  fact  that  to-night  and  last  night  there 
were  80,000  fallen  women  on  the  streets  of  London. 
Who  keeps  them  ?  The  worshippers  of  Baal.  Is  it 
realized  that  all  the  horrible  carrying  away  of  the  life 
of  young  manhood  in  this  terrible  and  damnable  whirl- 
pool of  impurity  is  worship  ?  It  is  so.  'Tis  the  homage 
of  the  man  who,  losing  his  God,  worships  at  the  shrine 
of  a  fallen  Venus. 

Mammon  worship  is  another  evil  form  of  devotion 
which  has  also  survived  until  this  hour.  The  lust  for 
gold  is  getting  such  a  hold  upon  the  hearts  of  men 
to-day  that  it  is  time  the  first  commandment  were 
preached  with  new  emphasis.  The  worship  of  the 
god  of  gold  is  cursing  the  age. 

So  far  generalities  have  been  dealt  with,  and  some 
men  will  deny  that  they  worship  any  of  the  gods' 
named.  There  are,  however,  two  other  forms  of  wor- 
ship mentioned  in  the  Scriptures,  one  in  the  Old 
Testament,  and  one  in  the  New,  worthy  of  attention. 
*'He  taketh  up  all  of  them  with  the  angle,  he  catcheth 
them  in  his  net,  and  gathereth  them  in  his  drag :  there- 
fore he  rejoiceth  and  is  glad.  Therefore  he  sacrificeth 
unto  his  net,  and  burneth  incense  unto  his  drag;  be- 


The  First  Commandment.  21 

cause  by  them  his  portion  is  fat,  and  his  meat  plen- 
teous."     (Hab.  i.  15,  16.) 

It  is  a  sad  proof  of  the  power  of  Mammon  when  tn 
(man  worships  the  things  that  provide  him  with  fat- 
'ness  and  with  meat.  Are  there  not  a  great  many  co- 
day  who  worship  their  business  instead  of  God?  1 
shall  most  quickly  reach  my  point  by  a  story. 

A  boy  was  bringing  home  a  loaf  of  bread ;  and  one 
said: 

"What  have  you  there?" 

"A  loaf." 

"Where  did  you  get  it  ?" 

"From  the  baker." 

"Where  did  the  baker  get  it?" 

"He  made  it." 

"Of  what  did  he  make  it?" 

"Flour." 

"Where  did  he  get  the  flour?" 

"From  the  miller." 

"Where  did  he  get  it?" 

"From  the  farmer." 

"Where  did  the  farmer  get  it  ?" 

Then  the  truth  dawned  upon  the  boy*s  mind,  and  he 
replied : 

"From  God." 

"Well,  then,  from  whom  did  you  get  that  loaf?" 

"Oh,  from  God!" 

Here  is  a  boy  who,  in  the  last  resort,  acknowledges 
God  to  be  the  Giver  of  good. 

In  this  materialistic  age,  a  man  says : 

"My  business  supports  me  and  my  family." 


22  The  Ten  Commandments. 

It  is  a  lie ;  God  supports  him  and  his  family.  Men 
deal  with  God  only  as  a  last  resource,  and  yet  go  on 
hoping  to  sneak  into  God's  heaven  when  they  have 
done  with  his  world ;  but  the  God  of  Sinai  is  thunder- 
ing out  to  this  age,  "Thou  shalt  put  Me  first,  and  the 
business  second."  Men  may  not  sacrifice  to  the  net, 
nor  may  they  burn  incense  to  the  drag. 

11. — The  New  Testament  Enforcement, 

A  New  Testament  picture  of  idolatry  is  seen  in 
Philippians  iii.  i8,  19,  "For  many  walk,  of  whom  I 
told  you  often,  and  now  tell  you  even  weeping,  that 
they  are  enemies  of  the  cross  of  Christ :  whose  end  is 
perdition,  whose  god  is  their  belly."  That  is  the  kind 
of  thing  that  is  too  often  passed  over.  How  many 
there  are  who  have  just  that  one  god  of  their  animal 
appetites!  "What  shall  we  eat?  What  shall  we 
drink  ?  Wherewithal  shall  we  be  clothed  ?  How  shall 
we  satisfy  the  cravings  of  the  flesh?-  These  are  their 
gods.  A  man  of  this  sort  does  not  burn  incense  to 
drag  or  net;  but  he  has  gone  down  very  low,  when 
the  things  for  which  he  lives  and  strives,  and  to  which 
all  the  glorious  possibilities  of  his  manhood  are  con- 
secrated, consist  of  eating,  drinking,  and  other  forms 
of  merely  sensual  gratification. 

These  are  but  instances  of  widespread  idolatry ;  but 
in  the ''presence  of  it  all,  God's  perpetual  message  to 
man  is  this:  "I  am  Jehovah  Elohim;  thou  shalt  have 
none  other  gods  before  Me."  If  men  put  Moloch, 
Baal,  Mammon,  net,  drag,  appetites,  or  aught  else, 
into  the  place  that  demands  devotion  and  energy,  to 


The  First  Commandment.  23 

the  forgetfulness  of  God,  they  are  idolators,  even 
though  they  recite  the  Creed  every  Sunday  of  their 
life.  Man  was  made  for  the  God  Who  declares  that 
His  creature  shall  have  none  other  God  before  Him. 
He  will  be  the  God  and  the  center  of  every  man,  and 
the  very  nature  of  man's  being  makes  the  demand  a 
reasonable  one. 

Upon  all  these  commandments  the  New  Testament 
throws  a  flood  of  light,  and  so  far  from  abrogating 
them,  it  emphasizes,  reiterates  and  invests  them  with 
new  force.  There  is  a  sense  in  which  Christians  are 
not  "free  from  the  law."  It  is  only  when  grace  en-/ 
ables  men  to  keep  the  law,  that  they  are  free  from  it ; 
just  as  a  moral  man  who  lives  according  to  the  laws 
of  the  country  is  free  from  arrest.  God  has  not  set 
aside  law,  but  He  has  found  a  way  by  which  man  can 
fulfil  law,  and  so  be  free  from  it.  Has  God,  in  this 
Christian  era,  given  up  His  claim  to  worship,  and  said 
that  men  may  have  another  god?  Far  from  it.  New 
Testament  light  upon  the  point  may  be  found  in  the 
words  of  Jesus,  "Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God 
with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all 
thy  mind"  (Matt.  xxii.  37)  ;  and  again,  "Thou  shalt 
worship  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  Him  only  shalt  thou 
serve"  (iv.  10). 

There  is  but  one  excuse  for  idolatry,  namely,  ignor- 
ance; and  there  are  cases  in  which  even  that  fails  to 
justify.  If  a  man  does  not  know  God,  he  cannot  wor- 
ship him ;  but  if  he  lives  in  a  place  where  God  has  re- 
vealed Himself  perfectly,  and  where  he  may  have  the 
light  if  he  will,  then  the  last  excuse  for  idolatry  is 


24  The  Ten  Commandments. 

swept  away.  Take  the  commandment  as  applied  to 
God*s  ancient  people.  Has  it  ever  been  considered 
how  much  there  was  which  might  have  excused 
idolatry  in  those  days  of  old  ?  Not  only  the  coming  of 
Jesus,  but  all  the  great  discoveries  of  science  during 
the  last  hundred  years,  have  made  idolatry  more  sin- 
ful than  ever.  In  the  days  when  the  imagination  of  the 
superstitious  peopled  every  wind-storm  with  demons, 
when  lightnings  and  thunders  were  mysteries  unsolved 
and  unsolvable,  there  was  some  excuse  for  the  man 
who,  in  his  ignorance  of  God,  became  a  fire  or  devil 
worshipper;  but  in  these  days  of  analyses,  when  men 
get  to  the  root  of  Nature's  sights  and  sounds,  finding 
them  to  be,  after  all,  not  inexplicable  and  mysterious, 
but  processes  and  manifestations  of  a  system  of  rigid 
law,  the  excuse  for  idolatry  is  gone.  Natural  phe- 
nomena being  accounted  within  the  realm  of  law,  man 
must  acknowledge  a  lawgiver,  and  every  discovery  of 
science  within  the  last  fifty  years  has  made  God  more 
real  to  the  hearts  of  men  who  are  looking  for  Him 
and  are  willing  to  see  Him.  Every  scientific  explana- 
tion of  the  mysterious,  and  of  that  which  savored  of 
witchcraft,  makes  the  sin  of  worshipping  anything  in 
the  place  of  God  more  heinous.  The  more  brilliant 
the  light  of  the  Divine  outshining,  the  more  dark  is 
the  sin  of  idolatry. 

Let  men  take  five  minutes  to  shut  out  everything 
save  the  great  fact  that  they  stand  alone  with  God. 
Some  are  terribly  afraid  to  spend  even  as  much  time 
as  that  with  their  own  thoughts.    If  they  will,  if  they 


The  Second  Commandment.  25 

dare,  let  them  ask,  as  they  stand  in  the  Hght  of  that 
first  commandment,  "What  is  my  god?  To  what  is 
my  Hfe  devoted?"  If  the  answer  indicates  anything 
that  puts  God  into  the  background,  then  in  the  name 
of  heaven  and  of  their  own  safety,  let  them 

Break  down  every  idol,  cast  out  every  foe, 

and  let  the  God  Who  will  be.  Who  is.  Who  was,  be 
their  God. 


THE  SECOND  COMMANDMENT 

"Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee  a  graven  image,  nor  the 
/ikeness  of  any  form  that  is  in  heaven  above,  or  that  is  in  the 
earth  beneath,  or  that  is  in  the  water  under  the  earth;  thou 
shalt  not  bow  down  thyself  unto  them,  nor  serve  them :  for  I 
/he  Lord  thy  God  am  a  jealous  God,  visiting  the  iniquity  of  the 
fathers  upon  the  children,  upon  the  third  and  upon  the  fourth 
generation  of  them  that  hate  Me;  and  showing  mercy  unto 
thousands,  of  them  that  love  Me  and  keep  My  commandments." 

Exodus  xx.  4,  5,  6. 

The  second  commandment  Is  by  no  means  a  repeti- 
tion of  the  first.  It  forbids  a  practice  which  becomes 
possible  only  when  the  One  God  is  believed  in  and 
worshipped. 

The  first  forbids  us  to  have  any  other  gods  besides 
the  One  Who  makes  Himself  known  by  the  name, 
"I  am  Jehovah  Elohim,  the  Lord  thy  God."  The 
second,  taking  it  for  granted  that  there  is  no  god  but 
the  one  true  God,  forbids  the  creation  of  anything 


26  The  Ten  Commandments. 


'  which  is  supposed  to  be  a  representation  of  Him,  to 
assist  man  in  worship. 

I. — The  Commandment, 
First,   let   us   consider  the   commandment.     Some 

I  there  are  who  think  that  the  Puritan  fathers  imagined 
that  what  was  forbidden  was  the  making  of  the  Hke- 
ness  of  anything  in  the  heavens  above  or  the  earth 
beneath,  and  so  they  came  to  look  upon  every  form 
of  art  as  idolatrous.  I  have  known  Christian  folk 
who,  because  of  this  commandment,  would  not  have 
their  photographs  taken,  and  who  refused  to  have  a 
picture  in  their  houses! 

*>  This,  however,  could  not  have  been  the  Divine  in- 
tention ;  for,  immediately  after  the  giving  of  this  com- 

^  mandment,  among  the  pattern  of  things  pertaining  to 
the  Tabernacle,  in  the  very  holiest  of  all,  two  images 
of  the  cherubim  overshadowed  the  mercy-seat.  On 
flie  borders  of  the  garment  of  the  High  Priest,  also, 
as  he  went  into  the  Holy  Place  to  minister,  there  were 
bells  and  pomegranates.  Man  was  not  forbidden  to 
make  a  representation  of  anything:  he  is  forbidden  to 
use  the  representation  as  an  aid  to  worship. 

In  Westminster  Abbey,  to-day,  there  may  be  seen 
a  great  many  vacant  niches  where  images  once  stood. 
They  were  removed  not  because  they  were  statues,  but 
because  lamps  were  burned  in  front  of  them,  and  wor- 
shippers knelt  before  them.  That  was  essentially  a 
violation  of  this  commandment.  Man  is  not  to  make 
to  himself  "a  graven  image,  nor  the  likeness  of  any 
form  that  is  in  heaven  above,  or  that  is  in  the  earth 
beneath,  or  that  is  in  the  water  under  the  earth :  thou 
%halt  not  bow  down  thyself  unto  them,  nor  seroe^ 


The  Second  Commandment.  27 

ihem,"  In  the  closing  words  lies  the  force  of  the 
commandment.  It  strikes  at  a  desire  that  is  very- 
deep-seated  in  the  human  heart. 

Man  declares  that  he  must  have  something  to  help 
him  in  his  worship  of  God.  Devout  souls  in  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  avow  that  they  do  not  worship 
the  image,  but  the  God  behind  it;  that  they  do  not 
worship  the  crucifix,  but  that  it  helps  them  to  think 
of  the  Christ.  Yet  this  is  exactly  what  is  forbidden  in 
this  commandment.  Not  that  man  should  not  actually 
worship  image  or  crucifix,  but  that  they  should  not  be 
used  as  representations  to  help  in  worship.  "God  is  a 
Spirit,  and  they  that  worship  Him  must  worship  in 
spirit  and  in  truth."  The  material  cannot  help  the 
spiritual, 

WHY  MAN   MAKES  IMAGES. 

In  order  to  a  careful  examination  of  the  reason  of 
this  commandment  let  it  be  considerecj  why  man  makes 
an  image  or  a  picture  to  help  him  in  iiis  worship.  The 
answer  may  be  briefly  stated — the  spiritual  sense  in 
man,  that  which  realizes  God,  is  dead.  No  man  who 
knows  God,  no  man  who  is'living  in  daily  communion 
with  Him,  needs  a  picture  to  help  him  to  pray.  None 
who  know  what  it  is  to  live  and  walk  with  God  amid 
the  work  of  the  week  would  derive  help  from  an  image 
placed  in  front  of  them  when  they  worship.  By  the 
new  birth  of  the  Spirit  they  have  had  the  spiritual  con- 
sciousness restored;  so  that  they  know  God,  and  are 
able  to  commune  directly  with  Him. 

If  a  man  crave  help,  it  is  thereby  proven  that  he 
lacks  the  spiritual  consciousness.    This  very  lack  ren- 


28  The  Ten  Commandments. 

ders  him  incapable  of  creating  anything  which  gives  a 
proper  representation  of  God.  Every  attempt  which 
man  has  made  to  represent  God  in  any  way  has  re- 
sulted in  a  false  picture  of  Him.  When  God  said, 
"Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee  a  graven  image,  nor 
the  likeness  of  any  form;  thou  shalt  not  bow  thyself 
unto  them  nor  serve  them,"  it  was  because  he  knew 
that  if  men,  who  had  lost  their  sense  of  Him  and  His 
presence,  made  something  to  represent  Him,  it  would 
be  a  false  representation,  and  men  would  thereby  get 
false  notions  of  Him,  even  as  they  sought  to  worship. 

Look  at  the  matter  from  another  point  of  view.  In 
the  instant  that  man  sets  up  a  representation  of  any 
description  to  help  him  to  realize  God,  he  denies  that 
which  is  essential  in  God.  Suppose  that  it  is  an  image, 
a  picture,  or  some  system  of  worship,  concerning  which 
he  says,  "This  is  intended  as  an  aid  to  my  worship  of 
the  one  God."  See  what  he  has  done !  The  image,  the 
picture,  or  the  system  of  worship  is  limited.  The 
essential  fact  of  God  is  that  He  is  limitless,  that  He  is 
eternal,  that  He  is  self-existent,  there  being  no  end  to 
His  being,  and  no  limit  to  His  power.  Limitlessness 
lies  at  the  heart  and  center  of  the  thought  of  God, 
and  the  moment  a  man  makes  an  image,  he  denies  the 
essence  of  God.  For  that  reason  God  forbade  that 
there  should  be  the  making  of  any  images;  for,  not 
only  is  the  image  false,  it  is  misleading. 

Yet  once  again.  If  the  image  of  God  that  man  has 
made — that  which  he  puts  in  the  place  of  God,  that 
he  may  understand  Him — if  that  is  false,  and  if  it  is 
limited,  what  is  the  effect  produced  by  worship  upon 


The  Second  Commandment.  3§ 

character?  "As  a  man  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  i& 
he."  The  thought  of  God  produced  by  a  false  repre- 
sentation of  God  will  produce  character  ^hat  is  false. 
There  is  another  scripture  which  says,  concerning 
idols,  "Noses  have  they,  but  they  smell  not :  they  have 
hands,  but  they  handle  not:  feet  have  they, 
but  they  walk  not:  neither  speak  they  through 
their  throat."  Then  follows  the  philosophy  of 
idol-worship:  "They  that  make  them  are  like 
unto  them."  Every  man  is  like  his  god.  Man 
becomes  like  the  thing  that  he  puts  in  the  place  of 
God.  If  man  gets  a  false  notion  of  God,  through  his 
idol  or  image,  he  becomes  as  false  as  his  god.  Here 
then  is  the  tremendous  reason  for  this  enactment.  It 
is  not  a  merely  capricious  commandment ;  but,  like  all 
the  commands  of  God,  it  is  based  upon  eternal  princi- 
ples. In  effect  God  says  to  man,  "Thou  shalt  not  at- 
tempt to  liken  Me  to  anything,  because  every  effort  of 
that  kind  must  result  in  failure,  and  must  react  upon 
man  to  his  abiding  injury." 

II. — Present-Day  Application, 

Are  the  men  of  to-day  in  danger  of  breaking  this 
command?  Most  certainly  they  are.  Consider  a  few 
of  the  ways  in  which  the  second  commandment  is 
broken.  The  revival  of  priestism;  the  prevalent  pas- 
sion for  ritual;  the  elevation  of  the  ordinances  of  the 
Christian  religion  into  undue  place  and  prominence; 
the  professed  worship  of  nature;  the  worship  of  hu- 
manity, which  is  becoming  a  cult  and  a  religion ;  these 
are  instances.     In  all  these  things,  men  tell  us  that 


30 


The  Ten  Commandments. 


they  worship  God;  but  they  are  trying  to  worship 
Him  through  some  supposed  expression  of  Him  which 
they  have  made  for  themselves. 

What  is  the  priest  ?  An  attempt  to  reveal  God  to  the 
heart,  in  order  that  man  may  worship  Him.  Wherever 
a  man  gives  his  soul  away  to  the  priest,  because  he 
imagines  that  he  is  getting  to  know  God  through  the 
priest,  the  latter  becomes  to  the  man  an  image  and  an 
idol.  In  every  case  where  this  has  been  done,  man^s 
conception  of  God  has  suffered,  and  the  result  has 
been  the  degradation  of  the  worshipper. 

That  is  a  statement  which  is  easily  made,  but  for  its 
verification  history  may  be  appealed  to.  Look  at  the 
nations  of  the  world  which  have  become  priest-ridden, 
and  what  has  been  the  result?  Take  Spain  as  an  in- 
stance. What  is  the  meaning  of  its  degradation? 
Simply  that  the  people  have  had  a  false  view  of  God, 
because  they  have  tried  to  reach  Him  through  the 
priest,  instead  of  going  directly  to  Him.  The  reign  of 
priestism  has  become  one  of  the  most  prolific  sources 
of  evil.  It  has  broken  the  second  commandment. 
God  says,  in  the  first  commandment,  "I  am  your  God, 
worship  Me";  He  says  in  the  second,  "Come  directly 
to  Me,  and  let  no  supposed  help  intervene  between 
us."  There  is  to  be  nothing  but  direct  communication 
between  the  soul  and  God. 

The  same  danger  is  seen  with  regard  to  ritual.  An 
ornate  service,  beautiful  and  aesthetic  surroundings, 
are  supposed  to  create  the  conditions  of  true  worship. 
What  is  the  result  of  all  this  upon  the  spiritual  nature 
of  man?    Are  the  men  and  women  who  go  over  to 


The  Second  Commandment. 


31 


ritualism  in  any  form  becoming  more  spiritual?  Do 
their  lives  manifest  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit,  the  character 
of  Christ,  the  life  of  God?  Most  assuredly  not! 
Ritualism  may  be  refined,  but  it  begins  and  ends  in 
the  senses.  When  man  says  he  is  helped  to  get  nearer 
to  God  by  merely  aesthetic  worship,  it  is  nearness  to 
a  false  deity,  not  to  the  true  God. 

The  same  principle  applies  to  free  church  life.  One 
loves  the  simplicity  of  v^orship  which  is  seen  when  a 
great  congregation  comes  into  the  presence  of  God, 
and  every  man  and  every  woman  exercises  the  right 
of  priesthood  in  His  presence.  When  ornate  service 
is  put  in  the  place  of  the  rights  of  individual  souls, 
men  are  as  great  idolaters  as  were  they  of  olden  days, 
who  made  graven  images  or  painted  pictures,  and  fell 
down  to  worship  them. 

In  the  present  day,  there  is  a  great  danger  of  making 
the  Lord's  Supper  something  more  than  a  simple  \yY 
memorial  service;  and  every  such  attempt  is  fraught  ^ 
with  peril.  Only  recently,  some  men,  loved  and  re- 
spected, have  given  utterance  to  the  statement  that 
the  Lord's  Supper  has  in  it  some  sort  of  mystic  ele- 
ment that  assists  the  soul  in  worship.  The  soul  is 
assisted  just  as  far  as  Christ  is  remembered,  as  He 
commanded  in  the  memorial  feast  spread  upon  the 
table,  and  great  risk  is  run  when  anything  more  than 
that  is  read  into  that  simple  service.  The  moment 
some  special  influence  is  claimed  for  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per the  ordinance  is  lifted  into  the  place  of  the  Master, 
and  as  soon  as  that  is  done  all  the  spiritual  verities 
which  lie  behind  the  observance  are  injured. 


32  The  Ten  Commandments. 

Turning  from  that  higher  level,  remember  how 
much  is  said  to-day  about  worshipping  God  through 
Nature.  Let  no  one  undervalue  the  ministry  of 
Nature.  The  flowers,  the  valleys,  the  hills,  the  sun- 
shine, the  birds  are  full  of  beauty,  but  no  man  ever 
reaches  God  through  Nature.  Men  do  get  to 
Nature  through  the  God  Who  made  it.  Let  a  man 
be  right  with  God,  and  he  will  find  the  mystic  key 
that  unlocks  all  Nature  for  him ;  but  the  men  who  try 
to  climb  to  God  through  Nature  never  succeed.  Man 
cannot  use  a  flower  as  a  representation  of  God  for 
worship,  without  having  a  God  Who  is  a  falsity,  and 
thereby  causing  suffering  to  himself. 

The  new  cult  of  humanitarianism  is  really  an  at- 
tempt to  worship  God  through  human  nature;  but  it 
is  a  sorry  business.  If  this  new  idea  of  God  is  ex- 
pressed in  the  individual  or  in  the  sum-total  of  the 
race,  let  it  be  remembered  that  God  Himself  becomes 
guilty  of  all  the  awful  things  which  have  blotted  the 
page  of  human  history — a  terrible  thought!  God  is 
far  above  humanity,  but  He  loves  it,  and  will  redeem 
it,  if  it  will  return  to  Him.  To  worship  humjuiity  in 
order  to  get  to  God  is  to  be  guilty  of  tb*:  self-same 
sin  of  putting  up  as  a  representatiop  of  God  some- 
thing that  does  not  represent  Him^  but  falsifies  Him, 
and  reacts  in  disaster  upon  the  Inen  who  worship. 

WARNING  AND  PROMISE. 

Notice  particularly  the  solemn  warning  and  the 
gracious  promise  linked  to  the  commandment.  This 
is  one  of  those  passages  of  Scripture  which  are  most 
often  and  constantly  misused.    God  says,  "Thou  shalt 


The  Second  Commandment.  33 

not  make  unto  thee  a  graven  image,  nor  any  form  that 
is  in  the  heaven  above,  or  that  is  in  the  earth  beneath, 
or  that  is  in  the  water  under  the  earth:  thou  shalt 
not  bow  down  thyself  unto  them,  nor  serve  them  :for  I 
the  Lord  thy  God  am  a  jealous  God,  visiting  the  iniqui- 
ty of  the  fathers  upon  the  children,  upon  the  third  and 
upon  the  fourth  generation  of  them  that  hate  Me; 
and  showing  mercy  unto  thousands  of  them  that  love 
Me  and  keep  My  commandments."  There  are  persons 
who  read  the  first  part  of  that  command  and  pass  to 
the  second  part,  and  declare  that  if  a  man  be  impure, 
God  will  punish  his  child  on  that  account.  The  sub- 
ject of  the  result  of  the  sin  of  a  man  as  manifested 
in  succeeding  generations  is  not  now  under  discussion. 
What  is  the  simple  and  plain  meaning  of  these  con- 
cluding words?  If  a  man  put  something  in  the  place 
of  his  Creator,  that  iniquity  of  making  a  representa- 
tion of  God  is  visited  upon  the  children  of  the  third 
and  fourth  generation  of  them  that  hate  Him.  That 
is  to  say,  if,  in  worship,  men  put  something  in  the 
place  of  God,  if  they  come  under  the  influence  of  wor- 
ship which  is  an  attempt  to  put  something  between 
God  and  man,  then  they  are  not  only  harming  them- 
/•  selves  but  their  children.  The  probability  is  that  their 
[  idea  of  worship  will  be  transmitted  to  their  children, 
I  and  their  children's  idea  of  worship  will  be  trans- 
Mnitted  to  their  children,  so  that  the  wrong  that  men 
do  themselves  when  they  misrepresent  God  is  a  wrong 
which  they  are  doing  to  their  children  likewise.  That 
is  the  first  and  simple  meaning  of  the  words  used  in 
connection  with  this  commandment. 


34  The  Ten  Commandments. 

It  is  a  solemn  thing  thus  to  pass  on  to  children  a 

wrong  conception  of  God;  it  is  the  most  awful  thing 

,   a  man  can  do.     Men  often  take  lower  ground,  and 

/    talk  about  passing  to  their  children  evil  forces  and 

'    habits.     Nothing  can  minimize  the  awfulness  of  such 

conduct;  but  here  is  the  root  of  it  all.    When  a  man 

puts  something,  as  the  object  of  his  worship,  in  the 

place  of  God,  he  passes  on  the  same  practice  to  his 

offspring.    What  a  terrible  heritage  he  is  thus  handing 

down  to  the  child ! 

But  proceed  to  notice  the  gracious  promise  standing 
iide  by  side  with  the  warning:  "Showing  mercy  unto 
thousands."  There  is  very  little  doubt  that  the  render- 
ing ought  to  be,  "Showing  mercy  unto  a  thousand 
generations  of  them  that  love  Me,  and  keep  My  com- 
mandments." That  is  to  say,  that  if  a  man  sweeps 
the  idols  away,  and  gets  into  living  connection  with 
God,  worshipping  Him  without  anything  between,  the 
result  will  be  that  his  child's  child  will,  most  likely,  so 
worship.  Here  is  a  remarkable  comparison — God 
visits  the  iniquity  to  the  third  and  fourth  generation; 
but  He  shows  mercy  unto  the  thousandth  generation! 
If  a  man  will  commit  to  his  posterity  a  worship  which 
IS  true,  strong,  whole-hearted,  and  pure,  and  will 
sweep  away  all  that  interferes  between  himself  and 
God,  he  is  more  likely  to  influence  for  good  the  thou- 
sandth generation  that  follows  him,  than  a  man  of  the 
opposite  character  is  to  touch  that  generation  with 
evil. 

Granted  that  man  has  but  one  God,  it  is  still  a 
question  of  supreme  importance  how  he  is  worship- 


^        I 

The  Second  Commandment.  35 

ping  Him.  If  he  is  doing  this  through  a  priest,  if 
he  is  doing  it  through  ritual,  if  he  is  doing  it  through 

some  creation  of  his  own,  he  is  robbing  himself  of 
the  essential  blessing  that  comes  from  true  worship. 

God  calls  men  into  His  own  presence,  to  immediate 
worship.  They  worship,  not  when  they  listen  to 
preaching,  not  when  they  are  attentive  to  the  form 
and  fashion  of  music,  not  when  they  are  thinking  of 
a  table  upon  which  the  emblems  are  spread ;  but  when 
they  pass  through  the  preaching,  and  when  they  pass 
beyond  the  emblems,  and  when  they  are  face  to  face 
with  God.  Whenever  a  man  stops  short  of  that  face- 
to-face  worship  of  the  Eternal  God,  he  is  working  ruin 
to  his  own  character,  because  he  is  breaking  the  com- 
mandment of  God. 

Thank  God,  to-day,  no  man  need  stop  short.  The 
veil  has  been  rent,  the  priest  has  been  swept  away, 
ritual  has  been  put  out  of  sight,  and  there  is  a  direct 
pathway  open  from  the  place  where  man  is  into  the 
very  presence-chamber  of  the  Eternal  God.  Without 
priest,  prophet  or  preacher  man  can  go  right  into  the 
presence  of  God  and  worship  Him.  And  because  He 
has  opened  the  new  and  living  way,  every  attempt 
to  put  something  between  the  soul  and  God  is  of  the 
essence  of  idolatry,  against  which  His  face  was  set  in 
the  days  of  His  ancient  people  Israel,  and  against 
which  His  face  is  as  surely  set  to-day. 


35  The  Ten  Commandments. 

THE  THIRD  COMMANDMENT. 

"Thou  shalt  not  take  the  name  of  the  Lord  thy  God  iti  vain, 
for  the  Lord  will  not  hold  him  guiltless  that  taketh  His  name 
in  vain." — Exodus  xx.  7. 

The  name  of  God,  in  Scripture,  is  always  a  revela- 
tion. By  every  title  in  which  God  made  Himself 
known  to  man,  He  revealed  some  attribute  of  the 
Divine  character.  The  names  of  the  Hebrew  people 
were  intended,  in  every  case,  as  a  prayer  or  a  prophecy, 
and  were  based  upon  parental  hope.  Something  like 
the  same  principle  holds  true  of  the  names  of  God. 
Men  learned  .^ome  new  facts  concerning  His  nature  or 
His  methods  with  each  new  name  or  title  by  which 
He  made  Himself  known  to  them.  Bearing  that  in 
mind,  a  new  gleam  of  light  falls  upon  this  command- 
ment— "Thou  shalt  not  take  the  name  of  the  Lord 
thy  God  in  vain." 

I. — The  Command. 

If  men  use  the  name  of  God,  they  must  use  it  in 
a  way  which  is  true  to  its  meaning  and  intentions? 
and  any  use  of  the  name  of  God  which  denies  these, 
and  the  character  of  God  thereby  revealed,  breaks 
this  commandment. 

Turn  to  Isaiah  xlviii.  i :  "Hear  ye  this,  O  bouse  of 
Jacob,  which  are  called  by  the  name  of  Israel  and  are 
come  forth  out  of  the  waters  of  Judah;  which  swear 
by  the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  make  mention  of  the 
God  of  Israel,  but  not  in  truth  nor  in  righteousness." 
That  is  the  supreme  form  x)f  breaking  this  coiwm^ind- 


The  Third  Commandment.  37 

ment;  swearing  by  the  name  of  the  Lord,  but  not  in 
truth;  making  mention  of  the  God  of  Israel,  but  not 
in  righteousness.  These  people  used  the  name  of  God, 
but  did  not  obey  the  revelation  contained  therein,  and 
so  violated  the  third  commandment. 

In  Matt.  vii.  22,  23,  "Many  will  say  to  Me  in  that 
day,  Lord,  Lord,  did  we  not  prophesy  by  Thy  name, 
and  by  Thy  name  cast  out  devils,  and  by  Thy  name 
do  many  mighty  works?  And  then  will  I  profess 
unto  them,  I  never  knew  you :  depart  from  Me,  ye  that 
work  iniquity."  Here,  again,  are  people  using  the 
name  to  prophesy,  using  the  name  to  cast  out  devils, 
using  the  name  to  do  mighty  works;  but  they  them- 
selves are  unknown  to  the  King.  That  is  a  subtle 
form  of  the  profanity  against  which  this  command- 
ment utters  its  warning.  A  man  takes  the  name  of 
God  in  vain  when  he  does  not  use  it  in  the  way  that 
God  intended  it  should  be  used,  when  he  himself  is 
not  true  to  the  revelation  of  God  that  the  name  makes. 
"^  "The  Lord  will  not  hold  him  guiltless"— the  Hebrew 
word  there  is  clean — "the  Lord  will  not  hold  him  to 
be  clean  that  taketh  His  name  in  vain."  This  is  a 
solemn  assertion.  The  test  of  moral  cleanliness  is 
the  attitude  of  a  man  to  the  name  of  God.  He  is 
clean  or  unclean  as  he  uses  the  name  of  God  in  truth 
or  for  vanity.  So  that  the  man  who  never  uses  the 
name  of  God  at  all,  the  man  who,  through  sincerity 
of  questioning  doubt,  has  dropped  the  name  of  God 
out  of  his  vocabulary,  has  a  great  deal  better  chance  of 
being  clean  than  the  man  who  is  always  talking  about 
God,  but  is  all  the  time  denying  Him  in  his  life.    This 


38  The  Ten  Commandments. 

is,  indeed,  a  very  searching  test.  God  says  a  man^s 
relation  to  His  name  is  the  proof  of  what  that  man  is, 
in  the  fibre  of  his  being,  as  to  cleanness  or  uncleanness. 
How  wonderfully  the  Lord's  Prayer  throws  light 
upon  this  subject!  Of  course,  by  the  Lord's  Prayer 
is  intended  that  which  is  commonly  so  called,  the 
prayer  which  He  gave  as  a  pattern  to  His  disciples.  It 
would  be  well  to  examine  this  prayer  in  its  true  pro- 
portion ;  for  repetition  seems  to  have  robbed  it  of  half 
its  real  beauty.  Notice  its  opening  petition.  Matt.  vi. 
9,  id:  "Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven.  Hallowed  be 
Thy  name.  Thy  kingdom  come.  Thy  will  be  done, 
as  in  heaven,  so  on  earth."  That  is  most  probably  a 
false  punctuation.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  after  the  in- 
vocation, "Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven" — the 
approach  of  the  soul  to  God — there  are  three  peti- 
tions, all  linked  together  like  a  triptych,  and  then  a 
sentence  following  which  conditions  the  three,  and  not 
the  one  only.  / 

Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven, 

Thy  name  be  hallowed, 

Thy  kingdom  come, 

Thy  will  be  done, 
As  in  heaven,  so  on  earth. 

The  phrase,  "As  in  heaven,  so  on  earth,"  has  ref- 
erence, not  merely  to  "Thy  will  be  done,"  but  to  "Thy 
kingdom  come,"  and  to  "Hallowed  be  Thy  name.'* 
These  thoughts  in  the  Lord's  Prayer — the  hallowing 
of  the  name,  the  coming  of  the  kingdom,  the  doing  of 
the  will — are  different  phases  of  the  same  thing,  for 
a  man  hallows  the  name  by  submission  to  the  king- 


The  Third  Commandment.  39 

dom,  and  by  doing  the  will.     Hallowing  the  name  is 

not  simply  holding  it  in  reverence. 
\     One  of  the  names  by  which  God  is  known  is  that 
I  of  King,  and  men  hallow  the  name  of  King  when  they 
'  submit  to  God's  kingship.     Another  name  is  that  of 

Father,  and  they  hallow  the  name  of  Father  when 

they  do  the  will  of  their  Father,  which  is  in  heaven, 

as  Jesus  did. 

II. — Present-Bay  Application. 

Men  to-day  are  breaking  this  commandment  in 
three  ways — by  profanity,  frivolity,  and  hypocrisy. 

The  sin  of  profane  swearing  prevails  to  this  mo- 
ment, and  there  is  no  more  insidious  habit.  It  is  very 
often  the  sin  of  thoughtlessness. 

Evil  is  wrought  by  want  of  thought. 
As  well  as  want  of  heart. 

Some  men  do  not  know  when  they  do  swear;  they 
were  born  in  the  midst  of  the  most  fetid  moral  atmos- 
phere, and  began  to  talk  in  blasphemy  from  their 
earliest  days.  That  is  a  very  terrible  thing;  but  such 
men  are  not  nearly  so  guilty  as  others  who  have  been 
brought  up  in  a  pure  moral  atmosphere,  and  have, 
nevertheless,  fallen  into  the  habit. 

Much  would  be  gained  if  men  would  think  of  what 
they  are  doing  in  profane  swearing,  especially  where 
the  name  of  God  is  involved.  An  expression  made 
use  of  with  terrible  frequency  is  "God  damn  you." 
A  man  is  annoyed  in  some  way  by  another,  and  gives 
ready  tongue  to  this  oath.    It  is  taking  God's  name  in 


40  The  Ten  Commandments. 

vain,  because  the  man  who  says  it  does  not  mean  it. 
There  is  not  a  man  who  says  it  who  would  Hke  to  see 
it  carried  out  with  respect  to  his  fellow-man  in  all  its 
terrible  meaning.  It  is  trifling  with  the  name  of  God, 
invoking  Him  to  do  something  which  it  is  never  in- 
tended He  shall  do.  That  is  not  the  most  shocking 
aspect  of  the  vain  use  of  the  name  of  God  in  that 
particular  expression,  for  men  are  not  only  asking 
God  to  do  something  which  they  do  not  wish  Him  to 
do,  but  to  do  something  that  He  never  does.  God  never 
damned  a  man.  The  idea  is  an  awful  heresy.  God's 
work  is  the  work  of  salvation,  and  if  a  man  is  lost  it 
is  the  man's  own  suicidal  act.  God  is  not  casting  men 
away  into  eternal  loss.  The  awful  passing  out  into 
Utter  darkness  of  the  man  who  is  without  God,  and 
who  is  therefore  lost,  is  the  man's  own  fault.  No  man 
goes  into  that  darkness  except  by  his  own  act.  God 
is  not  doing  it.  The  idea  that  He  damns  men  is  being 
thrust  into  the  minds  of  men  by  their  own  profanity 
of  language,  and  it  is  a  libel  upon  the  love  of  God  and 
upon  all  the  excellencies  of  His  character.  The  false 
idea  involved  in  the  profane  phrase  already  mentioned 
takes  its  effect  upon  those  who  hear  it  as  regards  their 
thought  of  God,  and  this  effect  is  demoralizing  and 
debasing.  Oh,  that  every  man  who  has  fallen  into  the 
habit  of  profane  swearing,  having  become  its  slave 
almost  unconsciously,  would  take  heed  to  the  words 
of  Sinai,  thundering  in  our  ears  to-day,  "Thou  shalt 
not  take  the  name  of  the  Lord  thy  God  in  vain" ! 

Another  form  of  taking  God's  name  in  Vam  obtains 
in  some  sections  of  society.    This  Ts  a  light  and  frivo 


The  Third  Commandment.  41 

Idus  use  of  the  holy  name,  a  prevalent  and  fashionable 
joking  about  God.  Stories  are  told  in  which  the  name 
of  God  is  made  use  of  in  such  a  way  as  to  affect  men 
with  a  false  humor.  Such  tales  should  be  shunned  as 
men  would  shun  the  fire  of  hell.  In  every  instance 
where  men  permit  themselves  to  look  at  sacred  things 
in  a  frivolous  light,  there  is  evil  reaction  upon  the 
heart  and  consciousness;  they  are  robbing  themselves 
of  that  sacred  sense  of  veneration  and  reverence  for 
God,  without  which  there  is  no  real  worship  and  no 
acceptable  service.  That  man  is  unclean  through  and 
through  who  has  lost  his  veneration  for  God  and  His 
holy,  sacred  name.  The  man  who  does  not  tremble  in 
the  presence  of  God,  though  he  trusts  while  he 
trembles,  never  worships  and  never  works  as  he  ought 
to  do. 

The  last  and  most  subtle  form  of  breaking  the  third 
commandment  is  committed  by  the  man  who  says, 
''Lord,  Lord,''  and  does  not  the  things  that  the  Lord 
says.  Prayer  without  practice  is  blasphemy;  praise 
without  adoration  violates  the  third  commandment; 
giving  without  disinterestedness  robs  the  benevolence 
of  God  of  Its  lustre  and  beauty.  Let  these  thoughts  {J 
be  stated  in  other  words.  The  profanity  of  the  church 
is  infinitely  worse  than  the  profanity  of  the  street ;  the 
blasphemy  of  the  sanctuary  is  a  far  more  insidious 
form  of  evil  than  the  blasphemy  of  the  slum.  Is  there 
a  blasphemy  of  the  church  and  the  sanctuary?  The 
prayer  that  is  denied  by  the  life,  the  praise  offered  to 
God  which  is  counteracted  by  rebellion  against  Him 
when  the  hour  of  that  praise  has  passed  away,  that  is 


42  The  Ten  Commandments. 

blasphemy,  that  is  taking  the  name  of  God  in  vain. 
If  a  man  passes  into  the  sanctuary  and  preaches  and 
prays  and  praises  with  eloquent  lips  and  beautiful 
sentences  and  devotional  attitude,  even  with  tears,  and 
goes  home  to  break  the  least  of  these  commandments, 
that  man  blasphemes  when  he  prays;  but  if  he  de- 
ceives the  world,  he  never  deceives  God !  If  a  man 
take  the  name  of  God  for  vanity,  if  truth  is  not  behind 
his  worship,  he  had  better  not  worship  at  all.  The 
form  in  which  this  third  commandment  is  broken 
most  completely,  most  awfully,  most  terribly,  is  by 
perpetually  making  use  of  the  name  of  the  Lord,  while 
the  life  does  not  square  with  the  profession  that  is 
made.  There  are  men  who,  if  told  that  they  were  pro- 
fane swearers,  would  be  terribly  shocked.  They  have 
never  allowed  an  oath  to  cross  their  lips  in  their  lives, 
nor  do  they  know  what  it  is  to  make  use  of  profane 
or  vulgar  language,  and  they  make  their  boast  in  their 
freedom  from  these  things.  Yet  these  men  are  break- 
ing the  third  commandment  more  often  and  more  ter- 
ribly than  the  most  profane  swearer. 

Not  only  is  it  a  more  awful  thing  than  actual  swear- 
ing to  take  the  name  of  God  upon  the  lips,  if  a  man  is 
not  true  to  his  profession,  but  his  example  is  far  more 
pernicious  to  religion  than  is  that  of  the  swearer.  The 
man  who  professes  with  his  lips  to  honor  God,  and 
yet  denies  Him  in  his  life,  will  do  far  more  to  hinder 
the  coming  of  the  Kingdom  than  the  man  who  openly 
blasphemes  and  makes  no  profession  of  honoring  God. 
The  most  subtle  and  awful  form  of  breaking  the  third 


The  Third  Commandment  43 

commandment  of  which  any  man  can  be  guilty  is  that 
of  hypocrisy. 

And  what  is  the  last  name,  the  name  into  which 
in  the  smallest  syllables  and  sweetest  sound  God  has 
compressed  most  of  His  heart,  most  of  His  power, 
most  of  His  love?  Go  back  again  to  that  message  de- 
livered of  old,  and  hear  it  there,  "Thou  shalt  call  His 
name  JESUS:  for  He  shall  save  His  people  from 
their  sins." 

Here  is  a  man  who  takes  the  name  of  Jesus,  and 
sings  about  it,  but  is  not  saved  from  his  sins.  That 
man  is  breaking  the  third  commandment. 

A  man  imagines  that  the  religion  of  Jesus  is  a  cult. 
He  admires  Christr  talks  about  His  teachings,  criti- 
cises His  conduct,  and  patronizes  all  that  He  said  and 
did,  but  he  is  not  saved  from  sin.  The  man  is  a  blas- 
phemer. Unless  the  last  name,  the  name  of  Jesus, 
gathering  into  itself  all  human  beauty  and  all  Divine 
attributes — unless,  as  it  is  used,  it  is  the  keynote  of 
the  soul,  the  talisman  of  deliverance  from  evil — then 
had  the  name  better  never  be  mentioned,  for  so  it  is 
taken  in  vanity.  May  it  be  to  all  more  than  that,  and 
may  they  be  able  to  say  of  that  name — 

Jesus  the  prisoners'  fetters  breaks. 

Bruises  the  serpent's  head; 
Power  into  strengthless  souls  He  speaks. 

And  life  into  the  dead. 


44  The  Ten  Commandments. 

THE  FOURTH  COMMANDMENT. 

"Remember  the  Sabbath  day,  to  keep  it  holy.  Six  days  shall 
thou  labour,  and  do  all  thy  work :  but  the  seventh  day  is  a  Sab- 
bath unto  the  Lord  thy  God :  in  it  thou  shalt  not  do  any  work, 
thou,  nor  thy  son,  nor  thy  daughter,  thy  man-servant,  nor  thy 
maid-servant,  nor  thy  cattle,  nor  thy  stranger  that  is  within 
thy  gates:  for  in  six  days  the  Lord  made  heaven  and  earth, 
the  sea,  and  all  that  in  them  is,  and  rested  the  seventh  day 
wherefore  the  Lord  blessed  the  Sabbath  day,  and  hallowed  it. 
—Exodus  xx.  8-ii. 

This  fourth  word  of  the  Decalogue  closes  its  first 
section.  That  section  deals  with  man  in  his  relation 
to  God.  Having  stated  the  fact  of  the  Deity,  and 
urged  the  claims  of  God  on  man  in  the  first  three,  and 
before  passing  to  the  second  half  of  the  law  which 
deals  with  man  in  relation  to  men,  the  present  com- 
mand is  given.  It  provides  for  the  perpetual  main- 
tenance of  a  symbol  of  the  relationship  that  exists  be- 
tween God  and  man.  At  regular  intervals  through 
all  the  days,  man  is  to  turn  wholly  from  that  which  is 
material  to  that  which  is  spiritual.  By  the  recurrence 
of  the  Sabbath,  he  is  to  be  reminded  that  every  day  is 
measured  and  planned  in  the  counsels  of  God.  By 
turning  from  the  activities  of  his  physical  being,  in 
order  that  his  spiritual  nature  may,  without  distrac- 
tion, take  hold  upon  spiritual  verities,  the  fact  is  to 
be  kept  in  his  memory  that  his  whole  being  is  of  God, 
and  its  well-being  conditioned  in  His  government. 

In  every  hour  of  human  life  the  physical  and  the 
spiritual  interact  upon  each  other,  and  in  their  proper 
inter-relation  each  contributes  to  the  strengthening  of 


'  The  Fourth  Commandment.  45 

the  other.  Of  this  fundamental  law  of  human  nature 
the  Sabbath  is  the  perpetual  symbol.  For  the  days  of 
earthly  probation  the  value  of  the  Sabbath  is  created 
by  the  intervening  days,  the  light  of  the  seventh  is  a 
perpetual  suggestion  of  their  true  meaning  and  final 
import.  The  right  understanding  of  this  relation  is 
all-important  to  a  true  conception  of  the  meaning  and 
method  of  the  fourth  commandment. 

Consider,  then,  first,  the  two-fold  command;  and, 
secondly,  its  application  to  our  own  day. 

I. — The  Command. 

This  commandment  has  been  spoken  of  as  referring 
only  to  the  Sabbath.  This  is  a  mistake,  and  the  full 
weight  of  that  part  of  it  which  refers  to  the  seventh 
day  is  only  appreciated  as  it  is  remembered  that  one- 
half  of  it  has  to  do  with  the  six  days.  Stripping  the 
commandment  for  the  moment  of  all  explanatory  and 
expository  sentences,  it  will  be  found  to  consist  of 
two  simple  injunctions : 

First,  "Remember  the  Sabbath  day,  to  keep  it  holy." 

Second,  "Six  days  shalt  thou  labor,  and  do  all  thy 
work." 

The  will  of  God  for  man  is  that  he  should  work. 
It  is  also  that  at  the  seventh  day  interval  he  should 
cease  his  work,  and  worship.  The  work  of  the  six 
days,  being  the  carrying  out  of  a  Divine  purpose,  is 
in  itself  practical  worship  of  the  highest  description. 
The  worship  of  the  seventh  day,  in  which  he  turns  to 
the  places  of  contemplation,  meditation,  and  adora- 
tion, is  work  in  the  highest  realm.    Each  is  the  com- 


46  The  Ten  Commandments. 

plement  of  the  other.  He  who  never  works  is  unfitted 
for  worship.  He  who  never  pauses  to  worship  is  ren- 
dered incapable  of  work.  While  the  present  study,  for 
reasons  that  will  be  obvious,  deals  almost  exclusively 
with  the  obligation  of  the  Sabbath,  it  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  start  with  a  clear  understanding  that  the 
final  statement  in  the  first  section  of  the  Decalogue  is 
that  man  fulfils  the  ideal  relationship  to  God,  con- 
tained in  the  statement  of  the  first  three  command- 
ments, only  as  he  is  a  worker  and  a  worshipper. 

The  reason  for  this  is  found  in  the  fact  of  the  kin- 
ship of  man  to  God.  Every  side  of  his  nature  is  a 
result  of  Divine  thought  and  action.  It  is  constructed 
upon  the  basis  of  thought  and  action.  Consequently, 
the  threefold  nature  of  man,  resulting  in  the  one  per- 
son fulfils  its  highest  possibilities  within  this  realm 
only.  The  first  word  of  God,  therefore,  is — "Six  days 
shalt  thou  labor,  and  do  all  thy  work."  The  complex 
system  of  present-day  civilization  makes  it  possible 
that  some  men  may  live  without  work.  That,  how- 
ever, is  only  possible  in  the  proportion  in  which  men 
have  departed  from  the  Divine  ideal.  Man  is  placed  in  a 
world  which  contains  all  that  is  necessary  for  his 
physical  being,  but  to  obtain  it  he  must  work.  The 
soil  is  stored  with  forces  of  life,  but  man  must  bend 
over  it  and  smite  it  with  labor  before  it  will  answer 
the  demands  his  need  is  making  upon  it.  The  harvest 
comes  by  the  way  of  human  work.  Man  needs  bread, 
and  works  upon  the  soil,  and  the  golden  harvest  is 
God's  crown  upon  human  labor.  This  fact  of  labor  is 
not  the  result  of  the  Fall.    It  is  part  of  the  original 


The  Fourth  Commandment.  47 

intention,  for  man  was  placed  in  the  garden  of  Eden 
"to  dress  it  and  to  keep  it."  In  the  process  of  the 
centuries  men  have  been  discovering  the  secrets  of 
God  long  locked  in  the  treasury  of  Nature.  These 
all,  rightly  understood  and  applied,  minister  to  the 
possibilities  of  increased  power  to  do  the  work  that 
provides  for  the  needs  of  the  race.  To  that  side  of  the 
commandment  the  vast  mass  of  human  beings  are 
obedient,  not  willingly  always,  but  of  necessity. 

This  being  granted,  the  Infinite  Love,  in  perfect 
understanding  of  the  need  of  His  own  creation,  pro- 
vider that  every  seventh  day  man  should  lay  aside  the 
tools  of  his  craft  and  enter  into  the  upper  reaches  of 
his  life's  possibilities.  It  is  well  worth  a  careful  note 
that  the  old  essential  Hebrew  idea  of  the  Sabbath 
was  not  that  of  gloom,  but  rather  of  gladness.  The 
Sabbath  was  a  day  of  delight,  a  holiday,  a  day  in  which 
man  found,  in  cessation  from  toil,  the  possibility  of  en- 
tering into  the  realization  of  his  own  nature's  capacity 
for  enjoyment.  To  think  upon  Jehovah,  to  commune 
with  the  Infinite,  uprising  from  the  earth  to  stand  erect, 
conscious  of  affinity  with  God,  man  was  to  foretaste  the 
larger  life  for  which  the  present  was  but  a  probation, 
and  thus  be  equipped  for  taking  hold  with  new  con- 
secration and  firmer  grip  upon  the  work  of  the  coming 
days. 

Thus  the  Sabbath  had  its  ethical  meaning.  From 
the  quiet  calm  of  the  Sabbath  day  man  returned  to  the 
necessary  and  swift  movements  of  the  six.  As  he  did 
so,  the  integrity  and  justice  of  the  things  with  which  he 
tiad  communed  in  the  hours  of  rest,  touched  wid  in- 


43  The  Ten  Commandments. 

fluenced  him  in  all  the  hours  of  work.  He  delved 
deeply,  and  measured  justly,  and  weighed  righteously 
for  six  days,  because  on  the  seventh  he  became  con- 
scious of  the  balances  of  the  sanctuary  and  the  right- 
eousness of  God. 

Thus  the  two  commandments  are  one,  so  inter- 
related that  they  can  never  be  separated.  To  fail  in 
obedience  to  the  one  is  to  make  it  impossible  to  obey 
the  other.  Obedience  to  each  creates  the  power  to 
obey  the  other.  Work  makes  worship,  worship  fits 
for  work. 

II. — Present-Day  Application, 

From  this  consideration  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
Sabbath  is  not  the  ideal  of  any  dispensation  of  Divine 
dealings.  It  is  universal  in  the  purpose  of  God,  and 
was  part  of  the  economy  of  time  which  waited  for  the 
birth  of  man.  The  change  of  day  in  the  Christian 
dispensation  from  the  seventh  to  the  first  is  of  great 
symbolic  value,  and  although  no  Divine  word  was 
written  commanding  the  change,  the  spiritual  facts  of 
Christianity  altered  it  surely,  yet  without  proclamation 
or  noise.  Until  Christ  had  come,  man  worked  toward 
his  Sabbath.  Since  Christ,  he  works  from  his  Sabbath. 
In  the  old  economy,  in  the  last  analysis,  the  Sabbath 
depended  upon  the  work ;  in  the  new,  the  work  grows 
out  of  the  Sabbath. 

Thus,  the  grace  of  God  as  revealed  in  Christ  includes 
the  first  principles  of  the  Divine  government,  and  yet 
brings  them  to  the  level  of  the  need  of  man  in  his  im- 
potence and  fall. 


The  Fourth  Commandment.  49 

These  are  the  busiest  days  that  humanity  has  ever 
geen,  days  of  strenuous  life  and  quick  movement,  days 
in  which  men  have  no  time  for  the  contemplation  of 
anything  out  of  which  the  virtue  has  passed,  merel> 
out  of  respect  for  the  time  when  virtue  yet  was  in  it. 
Effete  things  must  be  swept  on  one  side,  and  only 
those  that  contribute  to  the  well-being  of  the  race  are 
to  be  maintained. 

How  will  this  aspect  of  the  age  affect  the  question 
of  the  fourth  commandment?  The  conditions  of  life 
Jto-day  increasingly  demand  work,  that  is,  as  has  been  / 
before  indicated,  among  the  vast  majority  of  the  hu-, 
man  family.  Not  only  the  law  of  God,  tender  and  be- 
neficent, but  the  law  of  human  society,  too  often  stern 
and  cruel,  says  to  man,  Thou  shalt  work!  The  fact 
that  there  are  any  who  escape  obedience  to  the  com- 
mand is  the  saddest  fact  in  sociology.  If  the  necessity 
for  work  were  still  understood  in  all  its  Divine  bear- 
ings, no  human  being  in  Whitechapel  or  Belgravia, 
on  Fifth  avenue  or  in  tenement  house,  would  be 
allowed  to  eat  a  meal  until  that  meal  had  been  pur- 
chased by  the  contribution  of  a  quota  of  toil  to  the 
commonwealth  of  wcrk. 

Returning,  however,  to  the  previous  position,  that 
this  is  pre-eminently  the  day  in  which  men  work,  it 
is  an  appalling  fact  that  forgetfulness  of  God  has 
issued  in  the  folly  of  forgetfulness  of,  or  opposition 
to.  His  law  concerning  the  Sabbath.  Atheism,  of 
course,  would  sweep  away  that  great  time  symbol  of 
the  tender  compassion  of  the  Father  of  men.  The 
ioss  of  the  Sabbath  is  the  necessary  outcome  of  the  de- 


50  The  Ten  Commandments. 

^hronement  of  God ;  and  all  the  degradation  of  human- 
ity that  always  follows  the  sweeping  away  from  na- 
tional life  of  the  seventh  day  of  rest  is  the  logical  se- 
quence of  Atheism.  Well  and  graphically  did  Paul 
describe  its  issue  in  his  word  "atheists  and  without 
hope  in  the  world." 

The  most  insidious  and  dangerous  attack  upon  the 
Sabbath,  however,  is  that  of  those  who  would,  to 
use  their  own  phrase,  secularize  it.  These  are  they 
who  would  take  advantage  of  the  rest  which  has 
I  come  to  them  through  the  government  of  God,  in 
order  to  prove  by  the  folly  of  their  pleasure-seeking, 
and  the  weary  restlessness  of  their  feverish  activity, 
their  departure  from  that  government.  If  men  had 
but  eyes  to  see,  and  hearts  to  understand  the  silent 
goings  of  the  eternal  things,  a  sojourn  in  Paris 
would  be  the  most  powerful  sermon  that  could  be 
preached  on  the  sanctity  of  the  Sabbath,  and  the  dese- 
cration of  everything  that  is  distinctively  glorious  in 
human  nature  which  follows  in  the  wake  of  its  un- 
hallowing. 

Christ's  attitude. 

What  IS  the  church's  duty  to-day?  Much  has  been 
made  of  the  attitude  of  Christ  in  speech  and  deed 
.  toward  the  Sabbath.  Some  have  imagined  that  by 
/  words  He  uttered  and  by  deeds  He  did  He  relaxed 
the  binding  nature  of  the  old  command.  This  view 
however,  is  to  absolutely  misunderstand  and  misin- 
terpret the  doing  and  the  teaching  of  Jesus.  First, 
in  this  connection,  let  it  be  remembered  that  all  He 


The  Fourth  Commandment.  51 

said  concerning  it  He  uttered  while  He  was  fulfilling 
His  mission  as  the  Jewish  Messiah.  It  is  impossible 
too  clearly  to  state  the  fact,  because  many  who  teach 
that  in  the  Christian  dispensation  the  original  ideal 
of  the  Sabbath  is  not  bniding,  quote  our  Lord's  words 
in  support  of  their  contention.  This  is  indeed  to  fail 
to  distinguish  between  things  that  diifer.  His  great 
statements  reveal  the  true  meaning  of  the  Sabbath, 
as  observed  under  a  Jewish  economy.  They  undoubt- 
edly have  a  far  wider  application,  reaching  back  to 
the  original  ideal,  and  throwing  light  far  on  to  the 
end  of  time.  Said  He,  "The  Sabbath  was  made  for 
man."  The  fair  inference  is  that  while  man  walks  in 
the  ways  of  God,  he  must  of  necessity  make  a  Divinely 
intended  use  of  this  great  gift.  Said  He,  moreover, 
"The  Son  of  Man  is  Lord  also  of  the  Sabbath."  Not, 
let  it  be  noticed,  "Son  of  God,"  but  "Son  of  Man." 
Speaking  here  of  Himself  certainly,  but  of  Himself  in 
representative  capacity  as  fulfilling  the  first  Divine 
intention.  He  claims  to  be,  not  the  destroyer,  but  Lord 
of  the  Sabbath. 

Those  who  through  His  finished  work  have  entered 
into  that  new  realm  of  life  in  which  all  work  grows 
out  of  rest,  and  the  meanest  activity  of  the  commonest 
day  finds  its  root  and  inspiration  in  the  cross  of  His 
passion  and  the  glory  of  His  resurrection  morning, 
must  ever  be  loyal  to  the  law  of  Infinite  Love,  and 
during  the  little  while  in  which  they  wait  and  watch 
for  the  morning,  gather  in  the  seven-fold  light  of  the 
Christian  Sabbath  for  spiritual  development  and  exer- 
cise, that  so  through    all    the    working    days    there 


52 


The  Ten  Commandments. 


may  be  perpetual  life  in  the  power  of  the  eternal 
things  considered  on  the  first  day  of  the  week.  The 
Sabbath  idea,  as  now  embodied  in  the  resurrection 
day,  must  be  defended  from  all  attacks,  and  by  the 
joyousness  of  worship  and  the  readiness  of  service, 
demonstrate  its  delight. 


THE  FIFTH  COMMANDMENT. 

"Honour  thy  father  and  thy  mother:  that  thy  days  may  be 
long  upon  the  land  which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee." 

Exodus  xx.  12. 

Differences  of  opinion  have  been  expressed  as  to 
the  division  of  the  Decalogue,  some  maintaining  that 
the  first  four  commandments  were  written  upon  the  first 
table,  and  the  last  six  upon  the  second.  Others  have 
held  that  upon  each  table  five  were  written.  The  first 
theory  maintains  that  the  first  division  defines  the  law 
that  governs  man's  relationship  to  God,  while  the  sec- 
ond division  defines  the  law  that  governs  his  relations 
to  his  fellow.  Those  who  hold  the  second  theory  main- 
tain that  the  fifth  commandment  is  part  of  the  law  reg- 
ulating man's  relation  to  God.  Dean  Farrar  suggests 
that  the  first  five  were  written  upon  one  table,  and 
may  be  spoken  of  as  Pietas,  while  the  second  five  upon 
the  second  table  may  be  spoken  of  as  Probitas.  It  will 
be  seen,  therefore,  that  the  difficulty  is  in  the  plac- 
ing of  the  fifth  commandment.  Dean  Chadwick  sug- 
gests that  it  is  a  bridge  connecting  the  two.  This  is, 
perhaps,  the  most  reasonable  explanation.  It  is,  how- 
ever, so  clearly  a  commandment  dealing  with    the  re- 


The  Fifth  Commandment  53 

lation  of  one  human  being  to  another,  that  here  it  is 
considered  as  the  first  of  the  second  half  of  the  Deca- 
logue, that  half,  namely,  which  reveals  for  all  time 
the  Divine  thought  of  human  relationship. 

This  commandment  is  most  closely  linked  in  thought 
and  intention  to  those  that  have  preceded  it,  for  here 
the  parent  is  viVwpH  as  being  in  the,  place  pf  God_toJthe 
child.  In  the  early  days  of  human  life,  while  as  yet 
the  mind  is  unable  to  grasp  the  most  elementary  ideas 
of  God,  the  supreme  facts  concerning  Him  are  to  be 
impressed  upon  the  child  by  a  revelation  of  them  in 
its  parents.  In  the  procession  of  human  life  the  child 
owes  its  being  to  its  parents,  and  one  of  the  most  evi- 
dent and  remarkable  facts  of  human  nature  is  the  atti- 
tude of  the  opening  mind  and  affection  of  the  little  one 
toward  them,  an  attitude  absolutely  differing  from 
that  entertained  toward  any  other  person.  What  God 
is  to  the  adult,  parents  are  to  the  child — lawgiver  and 
lover,  provider  and  controller.  Upon  the  child's  re- 
sponse to  the  first  facts  of  relationship  will  depend 
its  response  to  the  higher  facts  to  be  revealed  in  the 
process  of  the  years.  Happy  are  those  children  who 
pass  by  a  natural  and  beautiful  sequence  from  the 
honoring  of  their  parents  to  the  hallowing  of  the  name 
of  their  God.  Happy  are  those  parents  who  so  hallow 
the  name  of  their  God  that  it  becomes  easy  for  the 
children  entrusted  to  their  care  to  honor  them. 

This  conception  of  the  command  lifts  it  at  once 
into  the  front  rank  of  importance,  and  reveals  the  fact 
that  it  has  a  dual  significance.  JFirst.  of  cnnrse^  it  is 
a__law_for  children,  and  none  the  less  certainly  it  in- 


54  The  Ten  Commandments. 

eludes  an  ideal  life  for  parents,  of  the  most  stringent 
and  binding  nature.  Its  importance  cannot  be  over- 
estimated, as  alljthe  subsequgiiMpQ^^n^^^^^Qlgllts^cofl-. 
cerning  human  relatiQnship_wiilM.-£asy_.£^.diffic 
obey,  according  to  the  m^asur^  of  ^^b^H^^nre  r^ndfr^j 
to  this.  Consider,  then,  first  the  command;  secondly, 
the  light  thrown  upon  it  by  the  New  Testament  ideals 
and  teaching;  and,  lastly,  its  practical  application  to 
the  conditions  of  life  now  obtaining. 

I. — The  Comnumd. 

It  is  too  often  taken  for  granted  that  this  is  a  com- 
mandment addressed  to  young  children  only.  Noth- 
ing  can  be  further  from  the  truth.  Assuredly  it  is, 
in  the  first  place,  addressed  to  such,  for  the  simple  rea- 
son that,  in  the  order  of  nature,  children  are  always 
young  first.  To  imagine,  however,  that  the  command 
loses  its  force  when  the  days  have  gone  in  which  it  is 
possible  to  speak  of  children  as  young,  is  to  misunder- 
stand at  least  half  of  its  deep  significance.  The  word 
"honor"  has  a  much  larger  meaning  than  that  of  obe- 
dience. The  thought  of  obedience  is  necessarily  inclu- 
ded. In  the  process  of  the  years,  however,  all  human 
beings,  for  the  development  of  their  own  possibili- 
ties, come  to  the  place  of  personal  responsibility,  when 
they  have  to  choose  for  themselves  in  the  great  crises 
and  the  minor  matters  of  life.  A  boy  will  never  be  a 
man  if  he  always  must  obey  his  parents.  The  training 
of  the  years  of  obedience  will  affect  all  the  choice  of 
subsequent  years;  but  beyond  the  period  of  control 
there  must  come  that  of  individual  responsibility.     It 


The  Fifth  Commandment.  ee 

IS  at  once  evident  that  this  command  includ^s_the 
whole  life  of  a  child,  for  all  men  and  women  are  still 
the  children  of  their  parents;  and  even  though  the 
days  have  passed  when  it  is  necessary  or  right  that 
they  should  obey,  the  days  are  never  past  when  it  is 
necessary  and  right  that  they  should  honor  their  par- 
ents. Jh<^  pnmmanrl^  thfHi  has  a  twofold  application — 
fi}:sfcr"tu"tbev43eriod  of  childhood,  and,  secondly,  to  the 
period^  of  adult  life. 

The  meaning  of  the  word  *'honor"  is — to  attach 
weight  to ;  to  put  in  the  place  of  superiority ;  to  hold  in 
high  opinion;  to  reverence,  in  the  best  sense  of  that 
word.  To  the  child  who  is  not  yeFof  age  to  think, 
to~plan,  to  will,  honoring  of  parents  consists  in  subjec- 
tion, obedience  implicitly  and  gladly  rendered.  This, 
like  every  law  of  God,  is  for  the  child  a  gracious  and 
yet  imperative  requirement. 

It  is  gracious  in  that  it  frees  the  child  from  respon- 
sibility and  care,  until  character  is  formed  and  the 
mind  trained  to  the  possibilities  of  correct  judgment. 
The  Divine  thought  for  the  child  is  ever  that  it  should 
play.  The  tides  of  young  life  are  full  of  hope  and 
movement  and  humor.  That  these  should  not  be  hin- 
dered in  their  development,  God  has  set  over  the  life 
those  who  in  the  very  nature  of  the  relationship  they 
bear  to  the  child  will  think  the  best  thoughts,  and  plan 
the  best  programmes  for  it ;  and  the  little  one,  free  from 
these  cares  for  which  it  is  not  prepared,  may  grow  and 
develop. 

The  command  is  imperative  because  the  very  im- 
mature   condition    of    child-life  necessitates  mature 


56  The  Ten  Commandments. 

thought  and  arrangement  and  training,  out  of  which 
are  to  grow  the  commands  laid  upon  the  child.  To 
refuse  lo  obey  is  to  run  the  risk,  or  indeed,  to  insure 
the  certainty,  of  wrecking  the  life,  and  making  impos- 
sible the  realization  of  all  its  fairest  and  highest  possi- 
bilities. The  very  imperative  nature,  therefore,  of  the 
command  is  also  proof  of  its  gracious  intention. 

The  exceeding  beauty  of  the  commandment  is  also 
seen  in  that  God  calls  the  child  to  obey  those  whom, 
in  the  very  nature  of  things,  he  loves.  There  may  be 
cases  where  tutors  and  schoolmasters  may  have  to  be 
placed  in  loco  parentis,  but  it  is  certain  that  this  is 
never  so  without  peril  to  the  child.  The  principle  of 
obedience  rendered  to  such  is  almost  always  that  of  fear 
of  authority,  whereas,  in  the  Divine  intention,  the  prin- 
ciple of  obedience  is  that  of  love.  This  may  hardly 
be  the  place  in  which  to  discuss  the  great  educational 
system  in  vogue  to-day,  yet  a  passing  word  may  be  per- 
mitted which  is  spoken  of  strong  conviction  by  one 
who  himself  was  trained  for  the  teaching  profession, 
and  that  word  may,  perhaps,  be  most  strongly  put  in 
a  personal  form.  I  would  never,  under  any  considera- 
tion, consent  to  put  my  boys  for  the  larger  portion  of 
any  year  away  from  the  influence  of  their  mother's  life 
and  my  personal  interest,  no  matter  how  excellent  were 
the  schoolmaster  and  staff.  Obedience  to  father  and 
mother  is  God's  safeguard  and  law  of  development  for 
child-life. 

The  moment  comes  when  for  the  perfect  develop- 
i[ient  of  character  the  child  must  act  apart  from  control, 
that  honor  should  be  rendered  to  the  parents  does  not 


The  Fifth  Commandment.  57 

then  cease  to  be  a  Divine  intention.  It  takes  a  new 
form,  that  namely  of  respect,  which  expresses  itself  in 
courtesy  ajid  kindly  deeds,  and  where  necessary,  in 
provision  being  made  for  the  comfort  of  the  declining 
years.  Where  the  first  part  of  this  intention,  that  of 
obedience,  has  been  gladly  rendered,  the  second  can 
hardly,  by  any  possibility,  fail  to  be  accorded.  Passing 
from  the  period  of  freedom  from  care  to  the  strenuous 
years  when  will  is  to  be  exercised  and  choice  made 
alone,  the  child  will  appreciate  the  true  value  of  that 
love  that  thought  and  planned  and  commanded  in  the 
earliest  days ;  and  response  will  be  made  in  the  rever- 
ence and  love  with  which  the  child  will  illumine  the 
last  days  of  father  and  mother.  As  the  keenness  of  the 
conflict  of  life  becomes  a  reality,  it  is  impossible  to 
forget  how  the  first  years  of  existence  were  sheltered, 
and  coming  to  understand  that  while  childhood  played 
itself  into  maturity  it  did  so  at  the  cost  of  the  anxious 
thought  and  incessant  toil  and  agonized  prayer  of  par- 
ents, it  becomes  the  delight  of  life  increasingly  to 
honor  them  and  to  pour  upon  them  so  much  as  may  be 
the  love  which  they  created,  and  for  which  in  the  even- 
ing of  life  they  long  more,  perhaps,  than  for  any  other 
blessing. 

THE   PROMISE   OF   LONG  LIFE. 

The  promise  coupled  with  this  command,  in  common 
with  almost  all  the  promises  made  to  the  ancient  peo- 
ple of  God,  applies  rather  to  the  nation  than  to  the  indi- 
vidual. It  is  the  declaration  of  the  result  of  accepting 
and  acting  upon  a  philosophy,  rather  than  the  an- 


58  The  Ten  Commandments. 

nouncement  of  a  personal  reward.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  personal  element  is  present,  for  in  the 
majority  of  cases  the  honoring  of  the  parents  results  in 
the  realization  of  habits  and  character  that  tend  to  the 
lengthening  of  the  days.  Character  moulded  in  the 
atmosphere  of  honor  to  parents  has  within  it  the  ele- 
ment of  quiet  power  which  tends  to  prolong  life.  On 
the  other  hand,  character  formed  in  the  atmosphere 
of  insubjection  has  within  it  the  element  of  reckless- 
ness and  fever  which  tends  to  the  shortening  of  life. 
The  true  application  of  the  promise  is,  however,  to  the 
nation,  and  may  thus  be  stated.  That  people,  among 
whom  the  sacredness  of  the  family  ideal  is  maintained, 
and  children  render  obedience  to  their  parents  during 
the  period  of  immaturity,  and  always  honor,  will  be 
the  nation  of  strength,  retaining  its  hold  upon  its  own 
possessions,  and  abiding  long  in  the  land. 

APPLICATION    TO    PARENTS. 

Before  turning  from  the  consideration  of  the  com- 
mand as  given  in  the  Hebrew  economy,  some  word 
must  be  said  as  to  its  application  to  parents.  This  ap- 
plication is  obvious.  Nothing  is  more  certain  than  the 
fact  that,  if^  parents  are^  to  be  honored,  they  must  be 
honorable.  If  obedience  is  to  be  rendered  gladly  and 
implicitly,  it  must  be  to  a  control  that  is  conditioned  in 
love.  Love  that  is  God-like,  far-seeing,  and  compre- 
hensive, love  which  permits  of  no  present  pleasure  at 
the  cost  of  possible  future  pain ;  such  love  can  only  be 
where  character  is  in  harmony  with  Divine  intention. 
No  father  or  mother  can  think  right  thoughts  or  plan 


The  Fifth  Commandment.  eg 

pure  programmes  for  their  children  unless  they,  in 
their  turn,  are  living  the  life  of  subjection  to  God,  and 
are  receiving  from  him  the  ordering  of  all  their  ways. 
If,  indeed,  the  father  and  mother  by  their  representa- 
tion of  God  to  the  child  are  to  prepare  that  child  for 
subjection  to  God  by  choice  of  will  in  the  days  to  come, 
what   perpetual   responsibility   rests   upon   them   that 
their  fellowship  with  God  should  be  such  as  to  insure 
their   correspondence   to   His   character,   and,   conse- 
quently, their  correct  representation  of  the  same  to 
their  children.     In  brief,  the  surest  way  to  insure  that  I 
children  shall  honor  parents,  is  for  the  parents  to  live  . 
the  life  before  them  which  reflects  the  glory  and  grace  1 
of  God. 

II. — The  Light  Thrown  by  New  Testament  Ideals 
dmd  Teaching. 

This  is  one  of  the  commandments  of  the  old  dispen- 
sation that  no  one  will  be  prepared  to  say  has  been  ab- 
rogated in  the  new.  In  common  with  the  rest,  it  is 
included  and  emphasized  in  a  more  explicit  revelation 
of  the  sacredness  of  the  relation  existing  between  par- 
ents and  children,  and  a  more  emphatic  statement  of 
the  Divine  purpose  and  thought.  The  example  of 
Christ  itself  is  one  of  infinite  beauty  and  great  suggest- 
iveness.  The  fact  that  God's  second  Man  was  sent 
into  the  world,  not  as  was  the  first,  in  full  possession  of 
the  distinguishing  glories  of  humanity,  but  a  babe  hav- 
ing to  pass  through  the  period  of  childhood,  is  of  in- 
finite value  in  the  light  it  throws  upon  the  fifth  com- 
mandment.    During  those  early  years  the  boy  Jesus 


6o  The  Ten  Commandments. 

was  under  the  control  of  Mary,  His  mother,  and  His 
reputed  father  Joseph.  He  grew  and  advanced  in 
wisdom  and  stature,  and  in  favor  with  God  and  men, 
under  the  developing  control  of  human  love  and  over- 
sight. 

When  at  the  age  of  twelve  they  brought  Him  to  the 
Temple  to  present  Him  before  the  Lord,  a  picture  of 
Him  in  relation  to  His  mother  is  presented  that  is  full 
of  suggestiveness.  The  fact  that  she  sought  Him  sor- 
rowing proves  almost  to  a  certainty  that  He  had  hardly 
ever  been  outside  the  immediate  sphere  of  her  influ- 
ence. To  miss  Him,  not  to  find  Him  immediately  at 
hand,  was  to  her  something  new  and  strange ;  and  the 
picture  of  the  anxious  mother,  assisted  by  her  husband, 
seeking  Him,  reveals  in  vivid  light  the  exquisite  rela- 
tionship existing  between  them  in  that  home  at  Naza- 
reth. When  at  last  she  found  Him,  His  question  to 
her,  rightly  read,  reveals  the  same  fact — that  of  His 
honor  for  her.  His  confidence  in  her.     Said  He : 

"Wist  ye  not  that  I  must  be  in  My  father's  house  ?** 

It  seems  that  the  very  writing  of  these  words  may 
have  robbed  them  of  their  music.  Certain  it  is  that  a 
popular  conception  of  them  is  out  of  harmony  with 
the  beauty  of  the  whole  scene  and  story.  That  He  in 
any  sense  rebuked  His  mother  is  not  conceivable.  Put 
the  emphasis  upon  the  "ye" — "Wist  ye  not" — and  a 
revelation  is  at  once  obtained  of  a  question  coming 
out  of  love  and  confidence,  as  though  He  had  said : 

"Mother,  surely  you  knew  Me  well  enough  to  know 
that  nothing  could  detain  Me  but  the  affairs  of  that 


The  Fifth  Commandment.  6i 

Father  of  Whom  you  have  given  Me  knowledge  and 
revelation." 

Then,  be  it  remembered,  there  was  here  no  breaking 
away  from  the  restraint  of  parental  control,  for  it  is 
distinctly  stated,  "He  went  down  with  them,  and  came 
to  Nazareth;  and  He  was  subject  unto  them." 

Some  have  seemed  to  imagine  that  when  He  spoke 
of  His  disciples  as  being  His  mother.  His  brethren, 
His  sisters,  He,  in  some  measure,  spoke  slightingly  of 
His  mother.  Such  interpretation  is,  however,  surely 
to  misunderstand  His  meaning.  No  slight  was  cast 
upon  her,  but  rather  the  highest  honor  upon  His  dis- 
ciples. 

For  Him,  also,  the  years  of  obedience  ended,  but  the 
years  of  honor  never.  In  the  last  and  awful  hours  of 
His  human  life,  amid  the  dense  darkness  of  Calvary^s 
unspeakable  woe,  He  thought  still  of  her  whom  He  had 
so  loved ;  thought,  moreover,  of  her  present  necessity, 
and  commended  her  to  the  loving  care  of  the  man  who 
most  deeply  understood  His  love  and  the  methods  of 
its  manifestation.  Thus  in  the  Person  and  example  of 
Jesus  the  fifth  commandment  has  its  most  glorious  en- 
forcement. 

In  His  teaching,  also.  He  gave  the  most  forceful 
interpretation  of  the  fifth  commandment  in  its  applica- 
tion to  one  of  the  abuses  that  He  found  around  Him. 
Men  were  excusing  themselves  from  the  duty  of  pro- 
viding for  the  necessity  of  their  parents,  by  saying 
that  funds  which  might  have  been  used  in  that  way 
were  Corban,  that  is,  dedicated  to  the  service  of  the 
altar.    In  the  most  emphatic  terms  Jesus  declared  that 


62  The  Ten  Commandments. 

to  dedicate  funds  to  the  altar  which  should  be  used  in 
providing  for  the  necessities  of  parents  was  to  make 
void  the  law  of  God.  According  to  this,  then,  it  is  a 
far  more  holy  thing  to  use  possessions  for  the  care  and 
comfort  of  parents  in  their  age,  than  to  present  such 
funds  to  the  altar  of  God  to  their  neglect. 

This  example  and  teaching  of  the  Master  proves  the 
New  Testament  position,  a  position  which  is  unfolded 
and  emphasized  again  and  again  in  the  writings  of  the 
apostles. 

III. — The  Practical  Issue, 
r 

Perhaps  no  sign  of  the  present  time  is  more  sad  than 

the  prevalence  of  disobedience  on  the  part  of  children  to 
parents  during  the  days  of  childhood,  and  lack  of  rev- 
erence and  respect  when  once  the  restraints  of  home 
jhave  been  left  behind.  This  is  manifested  in  very  many 
ways,  and,  alas!  is  not  peculiar  to  people  outside  the 
Christian  Church.  It  has  been  my  lot  during  the  past 
sixteen  years  to  stay  in  very  many  Christian  homes. 
The  strength  and  beauty  of  some  of  them  abide  as  a 
perpetual  fragrance.  Others  of  them,  alas!  have  left 
the  most  painful  impressions.  Children  self-willed 
and  consequently  bringing  themselves  into  perpetual 
unhappiness,  and  inflicting  discomfort  upon  all  who 
came  in  contact  with  them,  have  prophesied  evil 
things  for  the  days  to  come.  Boys  who  have  seemed 
;ishamed  to  use  to  their  circle  of  companions  the  word 
father,  have  substituted  flippant  and  irreverent  epi- 
thets, which,  if  they  had  but  realized  it,  at  once  de- 
graded, not  their  parents,  but  themselves  in  the  thought 


The  Fifth  Commandment.  63 

of  all  right-thinking  people.  Girls  too  often  seem  to 
look  upon  their  mother  as  a  household  institution,  pro- 
vided in  order  that  they  might  be  free  for  all  the  friv- 
olity of  a  giddy  set.  An  eagerness  to  be  away  from 
home,  a  longing  for  the  day  when  the  forbidding  or 
command  of  the  parents  might  be  escaped,  these  signs 
are  on  every  hand,  and  they  are  of  the  saddest. 

In  very  many  cases  the  children  are  not  so  much  to 
blame  as  the  parents.  This  failure  to  honor  father  and 
mother,  wherever  it  is  found,  is,  in  large  measure,  due 
to  the  breakdown  of  the  parental  ideal.  The  father  has 
come  to  think  of  himself  as  a  provider  of  food  and  rai- 
ment and  education,  and  occasionally  as  a  species  of 
moral  policeman,  rather  than  as  a  revelation  of  God  to 
his  bairns.  From  the  way  in  which  thousands  of  fath- 
ers to-day  treat  their  children,  one  would  imagine  that 
the  name  was  a  synonym  for  poorhouse-master,  rather 
than  a  name  lent  in  order  that  from  it  men  may  un- 
derstand their  true  relation  to  their  children,  and  the 
tremendous  responsibility  that  rests  upon  them.  The 
sin  of  fathers  in  the  matter  of  the  training  of  children 
is  far  greater  than  they  have  yet  appreciated  in  this 
country.  It  is  very  questionable  whether  the  hymn 
beginning — 

When  mothers  of  Salem  their  children  brought  to  Jesus. 

is  a  correct  interpretation  of  the  Bible  story.  The 
Greek  pronoun  is  masculine,  and  the  old  Hebrew  ideal 
was  that  the  father  was  responsible  for  the  training 
of  the  bairns.  If  fathers  think  of  themselves  as  less 
than  God  intends  them  to  be,  they  must  not  be  surprised 


64  The  Ten  Commandments. 

if  children  cease  to  honor  them.  Too  often,  also,  to- 
day,  the  mother  makes  herself  the  slave  of  her  own 
children  in  all  the  details  that  make  for  material  com- 
fort, and  forgets  that  she  should  be  to  them  the  most 
radiant  revelation  of  the  beauty  of  the  Divine  grace. 

It  should  be  noticed  especially  that  the  command  is 
to  honor  father  and  mother.  This  is  so  because  both 
are  requisite  to  a  true  representation  of  God  to  the 
child,  and  consequently  to  the  perfect  development  of 
the  possibilities  of  the  child's  nature.  Let  there  be  a 
return  on  the  part  of  parents  to  the  high  ideals  of  their 
own  holy  position,  and  there  will  assuredly  be  a  re- 
turn on  the  part  of  children  to  the  pathway  of  obedi- 
ence to  the  command  to  honor  father  and  mother. 

Let  children,  however,  remember  that  everything 
depends  for  them  upon  their  obedience  to  this  fifth 
commandment  of  the  Decalogue.  Their  relation  to  the 
first  four  "Words"  is  proved  by  their  attitude  to  this. 
Infidelity,  sacrilege,  profanity,  rebellion,  are  all  in- 
cluded in  the  sin  of  failing  to  honor  parents.  It  is 
equally  true  that  all  the  following  commands  are  in- 
cluded in  the  fifth.  Children  that  honor  their  parents 
will  be  saved  from  murder,  impurity,  theft,  slander, 
and  covetousness.  The  history  of  the  centuries  proves 
that,  under  stress  of  swift  and  subtle  temptation,  young 
men  and  maidens  have  again  and  again  proved  invul- 
nerable, by  the  memory  and  conscious  influence  of  a 
godly  father  and  sainted  mother.  Let  every  boy  and 
girl,  every  youth  and  maiden,  every  man  and  woman, 
guard  from  attack  the  sacred  shrine  in  which  faihef 


The  Sixth  Commandment.  65 

and  mother  are  held  to  be  beyond  the  criticism  of  the 
crowd,  sacred  and  holy  as  the  first  revelations  of  God 
in  the  tenderness  and  strictness  of  their  government 


THE  SIXTH  COMMANDMENT. 

"Thou  shalt  do  no  murder." — Exodus  xx.  13, 
This  second  commandment  in  the  second  table  of  the 
Decalogue  is  the  first  that  deals  purely  and  simply  with 
the  relation  of  man  to  man.     So  closely  allied  is  human 
inter-relation  to  the  relation  existing  between  God  and 
man,  that  this  first  word  conditioning  the  former  is 
based  upon  the  latter.    At  the  very  foundation  of  the 
social  fabric  lies  the  fact  of  the  sovereignty  of  God  over 
every  individual  life.    Before  defining  the  laws  which 
are  to  condition  the  well-being  of  society,  the  realm  in 
which  there  may  be  no  action  based  only  on  human 
will  is  clearly  defined.    Human  life  is  emphatically  de- 
clared to  be  sacred.     It  is  a  Divine  creation,  mysteri- 
ous and  magnificent  in  its  genesis  and  possibility,  ut- 
terly beyond  the   control   or  comprehension   of  any 
human  being.    It  is,  therefore,  never  to  be  taken  at  the 
will  of  one,  who  can  by  no  means  know  the  full  mean- 
)  ing  of  its  being.    The  revelation  of  God  made  to  man 
I  proves  that  He  has  purposes  for  every  individual  and 
]  for  the  race,  stretching  far  beyond  the  present  moment 
S  or  manifestation ;  and  to  terminate  a  single  life  is  to  set 
i  up  the  wit  and  wisdom  of  man  as  superior  to  that  of 
\  God.    The  immensity  of  the  issues  of  death  is  so  great 
that  there  can  be  no  sin  against  humanity,  and,  there- 


66  The  Ten  Commandments. 

fore,  against  God,  greater  than  that  of  taking  life. 
In  this  brief  commandment,  therefore,  is  contained  a 
statement  of  the  first  principle  of  human  life,  so  clear 
and  so  vital  as  to  demand  the  closest  attention.  Notice, 
then,  first,  the  command;  secondly,  the  application  of 
the  principle  it  contains  to  the  present  day ;  and  lastly, 
its  application  in  thi  Kingdom  of  God. 

I. — The  Command. 

Man's  first  relationship  is  to  God.  He  is  His  off- 
spring. He  is,  and  he  is  what  he  is,  by  Divine  volition 
and  power.  All  other  relationships  grow  out  of  this  first 
one,  and  are,  therefore,  subservient  to  it.  Subsequent 
commandments  dealing  with  blood,  social,  and  civic 
ties,  are  all  binding  upon  men,  because  they  are  includ- 
ed within  this  first  and  highest  relationship  of  life.  The 
sacredness  of  marriage,  the  right  of  property,  the  im- 
portance of  reputation,  and  the  supremacy  of  character, 
all  gain  their  force  and  value  from  the  nature  of  life. 
They  mark,  in  fact,  the  unfolding  of  life  in  its  varied 
possibilities.  The  giving  of  life  includes  all.  The  cess- 
ation of  life  ends  all.  Every  power  of  the  individual  is 
due  to  the  power  of  God,  and  all  the  possibilities  of 
the  race  are  to  be  traced  to  the  same  original  source. 
It  follows,  then,  of  necessity,  that  life,  being  a  gift  of 
God,  is  in  itself  the  most  wonderful  relationship,  that 
of  man  to  God.  This  commandment,  therefore,  in  sim- 
plest words,  and  yet  in  sternest  manner,  flings  a  fiery 
law  around  the  life  of  every  human  being,  reserving  to 
Him  Who  first  bestowed  it  the  right  to  end  it. 
\    The  change  in  translation  which  the  Revised  Ver- 


.  The  Sixth  Commandment.  67 

/sion  has  given  is  significant  and  important.  Instead 
of  "Thou  shalt  not  kill,"  it  reads  "Thou  shalt  do  no 
murder,"  and  there  is  a  difference  in  the  thought  sug- 
gested. It  is  possible  to  kill  and  yet  not  to  murder; 
it  is  necessary,  therefore,  to  have  a  clear  understanding 

\  of  what  murder  really  is. ,  Under  the  old  economy, 
cities  of  refuge  were  provided,  inlb  which  a  manslayer 
might  pass  and  find  protection  from  the  avenger  of 
blood.  A  careful  perusal  of  the  account  of  the  insti- 
tution of  these  cities  in  Numbers  xxxv.  9-34  will  throw 
light  upon  the  difference  that  may  exist  between  killing 
and  murder.  All  murder  is,  of  course,  killing,  but  all 
killing  is  not  necessarily  murder.  In  the  passage  re- 
ferred to,  the  word  "unwittingly"  (R.V.),  "unawares" 
(A.V.),  reveals  the  difference.  The  man  who,  through 
error,  unintentionally  took  the  life  of  his  fellow-mai* 
was  allowed  to  take  refuge  withlfi  one  of  these  cities. 
It  is,  however,  explicitly  stated  that  if  the  deed  were 
done  intentionally  the  city  of  refuge  itself  did  not  offer 
sanctuary. 

Here,  then,  is  the  difference  between  killing  and 
murder.  Killing  is  unwitting  and  unintentional  tak- 
ing of  life;  murder  consists  in  the  intentional  taking 
Df  human  life  on  the  alone  responsibility  of  human  will. 
Let  it  be  dearly  noticed  in  passing  that  killing  unwit- 
Hngly  was  not  looked  upon  as  a  light  offence.  The 
man  who  took  life  in  this  way  was  denied  his  liberty 
for  an  indefinite  term.  His  safety  was  to  be  condi- 
tioned in  his  abiding  in  the  city  of  refuge  until  the 
death  of  the  High  Priest.  If  he  ventured  from  the 
safety  of  those  protecting  walls  he  also  might  pay  the 


68  The  Ten  Commandments. 

penalty  of  death  at  the  hands  of  the  avenger  of  blood. 
For  the  murderer,  however,  the  man  who  of  malicious 
intention,  took  the  life  of  his  fellow-man,  no  sanctuary 
was  to  be  found  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 

The  simplicity  of  the  commandment  reveals  its  far- 
reaching  application.  Whoever  is  murdered,  and 
whomsoever  by,  the  law  of  God  is  against  the  act. 
This,  in  common  with  every  utterance  of  Divine  gov- 
ernment, is  no  piece  of  class  legislation;  but  human 
life  is  of  value  because  it  is  human  life,  whether  its  days 
are  being  passed  in  the  purple  of  the  court,  or  in  the 
rags  of  the  dunghill;  and  the  claim  of  man  to  safety 
from  death  at  the  hands  of  his  fellowman  is  based 
upon  the  life  he  has  received  from  God,  not  upon  the 
accidental  circumstances  that  are  so  largely  the  out- 
come of  human  arrangement. 

In  the  same  way  the  person  taking  the  life  of  anothef 
is  a  murderer,  whatever  the  social  position  may  be. 
Taking  human  life  is  never  made  legal  by  the  privilege 
of  power,  or  plea  of  poverty.  God  clearly  declares  life, 
thinking,  acting  life,  to  be  outside  the  realm  where  the 
will  of  man  has  any  right  to  act  as  to  its  continuance 
or  cessation. 

This  at  once  marks  as  murder  the  intentional  tak- 
ing of  human  life,  whether  by  the  individual,  by  society, 
or  by  the  nation ;  and  brands  as  a  breaking  of  the  com- 
mandment the  act  of  killing,  capital  punishment,  and  all 
war,  save  where  such  act,  such  punishment,  such  war, 
immediately  and  unequivocally  follow  the  clearly-ex- 
pressed commandment  of  God. 


The  Sixth  Commandment.  69 

In  the  history  of  the  ancient  Hebrew  people  God  del- 
egated His  right  to  men  for  the  maintenance  of  a  social 
order  based  upon  righteousness.  The  death  penalty- 
was  visited  at  His  express  command  upon  certain  forms 
of  sin,  and  wherever  the  hand  of  man  took  the  life  of 
his  fellow-man  under  the  clearly-marked  conditions  of 
the  Divine  economy,  killing  was  not  murder,  but  the 
carrying  out  of  the  Divine  will  through  a  human  in- 
strument. Achan,  stoned  to  death,  did  not  lose  his  life 
by  the  volition  of  his  fellow-men.  It  was  forfeited  by 
the  will  of  God  at  the  hands  of  men.  The  execution- 
ers were  but  carrying  out  the  express  order  of  heaven. 
No  leader  of  the  old  time,  whether  he  were  judge, 
king,  or  prophet,  had  any  right  of  his  own  will,  even 
in  the  interest  of  the  nation,  to  take  human  life.  The 
matter  was  very  different  when  God  made  man  the 
agent  of  His  act.  That  the  death  sentence  was  never 
passed  at  the  caprice  of  human  will  is  most  certainly 
proved  by  a  careful  study  of  the  Mosaic  economy,  in 
which  the  sins  which  were  punishable  by  death  are 
minutely  described,  and  the  laws  of  their  detection  and 
judgment  carefully  expressed. 

The  same  line  of  argument  applies  to  the  question  of 
war  under  the  old  economy.  The  only  justifiable  wars 
in  human  history  have  been  those  undertaken  immedi- 
ately and  directly  in  obedience  to  a  definitely  express 
Divine  command.  In  such  cases  God  chose  to  make 
man,  instead  of  plague  or  of  famine,  the  agent  of  His 
act  of  judgment.  The  history  of  the  ancient  people 
proves  that  when  wars  were  undertaken  only  under  i 
these  conditions  the  loss  of  life  was  almost  entirely  upon 


70  The  Ten  Commandments. 

the  side  of  those  against  whom  God  sent  His  hosts. 
When,  as  was  often  the  case,  God's  people  en- 
tered into  war  upon  their  own  initiative,  they  were 
routed  with  slaughter.  The  whole  history  of  the  He- 
brew people  proves  that  the  sixth  commandment  was 
of  abiding  importance.  Human  life  in  every  divine 
economy  has  been  held  sacred  from  the  attack  of  man 
upon  his  own  initiative. 

II. — The  Application  of  the  Principle  to  the  Present 
Day, 

This  sacred  basal  law  of  human  society  abides  until 
this  hour.  The  only  difference  between  the  Christian 
era  and  that  of  the  Hebrew  dispensation  is  to  be  found 
in  the  fact  that  with  the  advent  of  Christ  the  law  be- 
came absolute.  From  that  moment  through  the  cen- 
turies there  has  been  no  delegation  of  the  Divine  righV 
to  any  human  tribunal  or  court.  "God  having  of  old 
time  spoken  unto  the  fathers  in  the  prophets  by  divers 
portions  and  in  divers  manners,  hath  at  the  end  of  these 
days  spoken  unto  us  in  His  Son,"  and  the  speech  of  the 
Son  magnifies  the  law  in  this  particular  respect,  and  is 
of  such  a  character  as  to  make  all  killing  murder,  save 
that  which  is  purely  accidental.  No  person  will  be  pre- 
pared to  say  that  murder  by  an  individual  is  justifiable 
to-day  for  purposes  of  revenge.  The  destruction  of 
life  for  public  ends  the  Master  rebuked  in  His  own  dis- 
ciples, when  they  would  have  called  down  fire  from 
heaven  upon  those  that  refused  to  hear  Him.  War  was 
condemned  absolutely  by  the  teaching  and  action  of 
Christ  when  in  the  garden  He  rebuked  Peter  for  using 


The  Sixth  Commandment.  71 

the  sword,  commanding  him,  "Put  up  .  .  ,  thy 
sword  into  its  place :  for  all  they  that  take  the  sword 
shall  perish  with  the  sword,"  and  when  before  Pilate 
He  said,  "My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world :  if  My  king- 
dom were  of  this  world,  then  would  My  servants 
fight." 

It  is  often  argued  that,  in  defence  of  the  weak  and 
oppressed,  war  may  be  justifiable ;  and  that,  surely,  is 
t  plausible  argument.  It  is  not  for  us,  however,  to  take 
our  standard  of  conduct  from  the  most  refined  and  cul- 
tured paganism,  but  from  Christ  Himself,  Who  speaks 
to  this  age.  It  is,  therefore,  of  the  supremest  im- 
portance to  remember  that  the  point  at  which,  in  the 
quotations  already  given,  the  Lord  denounced  war,  was 
when  its  possibility  was  suggested  for  His  own  defence 
against  the  malice  and  wickedness  of  the  unholiest 
coalition  that  the  world  has  ever  seen.  In  His  case,  not 
by  the  punishment  of  evil-doers,  not  by  conflict  against 
oppressors,  but  by  suffering,  and  through  death,  tri-  ( 
umphs  were  won ;  and  whoever  is  prepared  to  justify 
war  under  any  circumstances,  must  do  so  at  the  cost  of 
calling  in  question  the  wisdom  of  the  Lord's  action. 

The  same  line  of  argument  applies  to  capital  punish- 
ment. Men  may  have  their  modes  of  government,  and 
the  world  may  still  attempt  to  discover  through  policy 
and  philosophy  new  methods  of  creating  a  nobler  so- 
ciety, but  in  the  purpose  of  God  there  is  but  one  King, 
His  anointed  Son ;  and  one  code  of  ethics,  the  speech  of 
that  Son ;  and  one  principle  of  government,  the  grace  of 
that  Son ;  and  within  the  economy  of  that  kingdom  all 
punishment  inflicted  by  man  on  man  is  remedial  and 


72  The  Ten  Commandments. 

redemptive.  Not  merely  for  the  salvation  of  the 
wronged,  but  also  for  the  reclamation  of  the  one  who 
wrongs  was  the  cross  uplifted,  and  when  man  visits 
}  man  with  death,  he  exercises  a  form  of  punishment 
'  which  shuts  out  the  possibility  of  a  remedy. 
-,  In  the  light  of  the  Christian  era  war  finds  no  justifi- 
f    cation,  and  capital  punishment  has  no  place. 

There  are  other  forms  of  murder  in  these  latter  days, 
which  are  peculiarly  the  product  of  the  age,  and  which 
are  hardly  ever  named  murder,  because  it  is  difficult 
sometiwies  to  detect  the  hand  that  strikes  the  deadly 
blow.  The  oppression  of  masses  of  people  in  the  hunt  for 
wealth  is  murder,  and  though  our  laws  are  so  feeble 
that  they  are  unable  to  detect  the  wrong-doers  and  pun- 
ish them,  this  keen,  swift  word  of  God  traces  every 
murderer  to  his  home,  and  the  God  Who  hears  the  cry 
of  His  suffering  people  will  call  all  such  to  account. 
The  victims  of  lead-poisoning  in  the  potteries,  and  of 
"phossy-jaw"  in  the  match  factories,  are  murdered  by 
the  men  who,  claiming  to  be  free  from  all  blame,  too 
often  des:?crate  the  tabernacle  of  God  by  unholy  gifts. 
The  death  of  the  little  child  in  the  over-crowded  hells 
of  the  slums  is  murder  by  the  man  who  gathers  his 
wealth  from  the  rack-rented  houses,  without  a  care  for 
those  who  perish  that  he  may  gain.  "Am  I  my  broth- 
er's keeper  ?"  is  a  very  popular  sentiment  even  to-day ; 
but  men  seem  to  forget  that  the  lips  that  first  uttered 
the  words  do  not  recommend  the  sentiment. 

The  Infinite  Love  has  found  its  fullest  expression  In 
this  Christian  age,  and  therefore  human  life  is  more 
than  ever  sacred.     God  has  not  for  the  last  nineteen 


The  Sixth  Commandment.  73 

hundred  years  delegated  to  a  nation  His  own  right  over 
human  life,  for  among  the  records  there  is  none  prov- 
ing that  He  has  ordained  war,  since  His  Son  decHned 
the  use  of  the  sword  for  the  winning  of  His  victories. 

III. — The  Application  in  the  Kingdom  of  God, 

So  far  the  subject  of  the  application  of  the  law  to  the 
whole  age  has  been  under  consideration.  In  conclusion 
it  may  be  asked  in  what  sense  the  commandment  is 
binding  upon  those  who  are  actually  within  the  king- 
dom, claiming  that  Christ  is  absolute  Monarch  in  their 
lives. 

In  the  law  of  the  Kingdom  enunciated  upon  the 
mount  of  old,  He  said,  "Ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said 
to  them  of  old  time.  Thou  shalt  not  kill ;  and  whosoever 
shall  kill  shall  be  in  danger  of  the  judgment :  but  I  say 
unto  you,  that  everyone  who  is  angry  with  his  brother 
shall  be  in  danger  of  the  judgment,  and  whoso- 
ever shall  say  to  his  brother  Raca,  shall  be  in 
danger  of  the  council;  and  whosoever  shall  say, 
Thou  fool,  shall  be  in  danger  of  the  hell  of 
fire."  Here  murder  is  tracked  to  its  lair,  anger ;  and  the 
King  declares  that  if  anger  be  in  the  life  of  one  of  His 
subjects,  such  subject  is  in  danger  of  judgment;  that  if 
anger  find  an  expression  in  contempt,  "Raca,"  such 
subject  shall  be  "in  danger  of  the  council,"  that  is,  of 
discipline.  And  if  such  subject  shall  say  "Thou  fool," 
that  is  an  expression  that  marks  condemnation,  such 
subject  shall  be  "in  danger  of  the  hell  of  fire." 

There  is  no  room  here  for  a  question  as  to  whether 
a  man  in  the  Kingdom  may  take  the  life  of  another.    He 


74  The  Ten  Commandments. 

is  not  to  be  angry  with  his  brother.  The  Revised  Ver- 
sion has  omitted  the  words  "without  a  cause,"  for  while 
many  ancient  authorities  insert  it,  the  weight  of  opinion 
is  in  favor  of  the  view  that  Jesus  did  not  use  these 
words.  Anger  itself  in  the  heart  against  a  man  is  con- 
trary to  the  genius  and  spirit  of  Jesus.  Anger  there 
will  be,  and  must  be,  against  sin ;  but,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  Lord  Himself,  anger  against  sin  is  not  anger 
against  the  sinner.  All  the  aggressive  force  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ  is  to  be  directed  against  sin, 
and  none  of  it  against  the  men  who  are  In  the  grip  of 
sin.  The  Church  of  Christ  has  always  been  renegade 
from  the  Spirit  of  Christ  when  she  has  attempted  to 
carry  on  His  warfare  with  the  weapons  that  are  carnal ; 
and  when  in  the  name  of  the  Prince  of  Life,  life  has 
been  destroyed.  He  has  been  insulted,  and  this  sixth 
commandment  has  been  broken.  Under  the  kingship 
.|1  of  Jesus,  if  the  possibility  of  murder  lurk  within  the 
^  heart  of  man,  it  is  counted  as  murder.  Whenever  He 
triumphs  in  human  life  He  creates  the  man,  in  dealing 
with  whom  all  other  human  life  is  reckoned  sacred. 

The  nation,  the  society,  the  individual  which  takes 
life  of  set  purpose  is  guilty  of  murder.  This  is  hardly 
the  age  in  which  such  a  sentiment  will  be  popular,  but 
it  is  getting  to  be  time  that  the  Church  cease  debating 
the  sophistries  of  the  age,  and  find  her  way  back  to  bed- 
rock principles,  refusing  absolutely  to  be  frightened  or 
cajoled  into  complicity  with  movements  that  are  in  their 
very  nature  contradictory  to,  and  subversive  of,  the 
teaching  and  the  Spirit  of  Christ.    As  yet  there  has 


The  Sixth  Commandment  75 

been  no  answer  to  the  philosophy  of  Russell  Lowell's 
satire : 

Ez  fer  war,  I  call  it  murder, 

There  you  hev  it  plain  and  flat ; 
I  don't  want  to  go  no  furder 

Than  my  Testyment  fer  that. 
God  hez  sed  so  plump  an'  fairly, 

It's  ez  long  ez  it  is  broad, 
An'  you've  gut  to  git  up  airly 

Ef  you  want  to  take  in  God. 

'Taint  your  eppyletts  an*  fethers 

Make  the  thing  a  grain  more  right ; 
'Taint  affollerin'  your  bell-wethers 

Will  excuse  ye  in  His  sight. 
Ef  you  take  a  sword  an'  dror  it, 

An'  go  stick  a  feller  thru, 
Guv'ment  aint  to  answer  for  it, 

God'll  send  the  bill  to  you. 

There  is  a  vast  amount  of  highly  respectable,  cul- 
tured, and  most  interesting  paganism  abroad  in  the 
world ;  and  it  is,  after  all,  much  to  be  preferred  to  the 
barbarism  of  the  past;  but,  in  the  name  of  God  and 
Christ,  let  the  line  of  demarcation  between  this  pagan- 
ism and  Christianity  be  clear  and  distinct.  The  Divine 
word  was  given  on  Sinai,  amid  the  thunder  and  the 
lightning,  "Thou  shalt  do  no  murder."  That  word  in 
gentle  speech,  far  more  searching  and  binding,  is 
breathed  through  the  Christian  era,  from  the  lips  of 
Him  Who  died  to  save  life ;  and  whenever  a  human  life 
is  slain  upon  the  field  of  battle,  or  taken  in  the  name  of 
society^i  or  murdered  in  the  interests  of  the  wealthy. 


*j6  The  Ten  Commandments. 

His  wounding  is  repeated,  and  His  teaching  trampled 
under  foot.  The  simple  facts  should  be  kept  in  mind. 
Life  is  of  God.  To  take  it,  as  to  give  it,  is  His  preroga- 
tive. Man  has  no  right  to  do  so,  save  where  imme- 
diately delegated  to  the  work  by  the  express  command 
of  the  Most  High.  In  this  dispensation  of  grace,  God 
never  delegates  this  right  to  man.  Those,  then,  who 
are  His,  must  decHne  to  have  any  complicity  with  war, 
raise  their  protest  against  punishment  which  takes  life, 
refuse  to  have  profit  or  pleasure  at  the  cost  of  human 
life,  and  so  live  in  communion  with  Him,  that  anger 
shall  be  destroyed  within,  save  as  it  moves  in  the  power 
of  His  infinite  love  against  evil  in  every  form. 


THE  SEVENTH  COMMANDMENT. 

"Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery."— Exodus  xx.  14. 
Immediately  after  the  commandment  declaring  the 
sacredness  of  human  life  follows  that  which  safeguardji 
the  highest  earthly  relationship,  and  conditions  in 
strength  and  purity  the  holy  and  sacred  office  of  the 
procreation  of  life.  God's  first  circle  of  society  is  that 
of  the  family,  and  the  origin  of  the  family  in  His  pur- 
pose lies  within  the  sacred  unity  of  man  and  woman. 
The  first  principle  of  human  life  is  its  relationship  to 
God.  The  second  is  its  inter-relation,  that  of  man  to 
man.  Within  this  second  realm  the  type  and  origin  of 
all  subsequent  relations  is  the  family.  Nothing  can  be 
more  essential,  therefore,  for  the  social  order,  than  that 
the  relationship  upon  which  all  subsequent  ones  are 


The  Seventh  Commandment.  ']'J 

based  should  be  jealously  guarded  against  any  and 
every  form  of  attack.  The  unity  of  the  race  is  the  pur- 
pose of  God,  and  this  grows  out  of  the  unity  of  hus- 
band and  wife.  The  union  of  husband  and  wife  is  not 
capricious,  but  essential ;  for  "God  created  man  in  His 
own  image  .  .  .  male  and  female  created  He 
them"  (Gen.  i.  2^]),  The  unity  of  husband  and  wife 
is  thus  the  unity  of  the  expression  of  the  Divine  image. 
Both  are  necessary  to  give  full  expression  to  the  Di- 
vine. The  duality,  therefore,  is  only  the  double  expres- 
sion of  a  most  sacred  and  holy  power  of  procreation. 

Such  a  consideration  as  this  reveals  at  once  the  tre- 
mendous force  of  this  seventh  commandment,  and  ex- 
plains its  binding  nature  upon  the  race  in  all  ages  and 
places.  The  actual  words  of  the  command  are  directed 
against  the  sin  of  unchastity  as  violating  the  sacred 
rights  of  the  marriage  relation.  Its  spirit  emphatically 
forbids  all  unchastity,  for  if  this  sense  of  essential 
unity  in  marriage  be  admitted,  and  it  be  accepted  that 
the  union  of  lives  is  always  in  the  plan  and  govern- 
ment of  God,  then  it  at  once  becomes  evident  that  all 
unchaste  conduct  before  marriage,  on  the  part  of  man 
or  woman,  is  a  wrong  done  to  the  marriage  that  is  to 
be;  and  unfaithfulness  before  marriage  is  as  much 
adultery  as  unfaithfulness  after  marriage. 

There  is  no  subject,  perhaps,  more  difficult  to  deal 
with  faithfully,  and  yet  there  is  none  demanding  more 
honest  and  fearless  handling. 

Consider,  then,  first  the  command;  secondly,  its 
bearing  on  certain  facts  of  present-day  life ;  and  lastly, 


78  The  Ten  Commandments. 

the  fierce  and  searching    Christian  ethic  that  touches 
the  subject. 

I. — The  Command, 

The  command  is  a  simple,  unqualified,  irrevocable 
negative.  "Thou  shalt  not"!  No  argument  is  used, 
no  reason  given,  because  none  is  required.  The  sin  is 
of  so  destructive  and  damning  a  nature  that  it  is  in  it- 
self sufficient  cause  for  the  stern  forbidding.  To  em- 
phasize the  commandment,  therefore,  it  is  only  neces- 
sary to  consider  the  sin  against  which  it  is  directed.  A 
sevenfold  vice  is  this  sin  of  unchaste  conduct,  being  sin 
against  the  Individual,  the  Family,  Society,  the  Nation, 
the  Race,  the  Universe,  and  God. 

It  is  a  sin  against  the  Individual.  This  needs  no 
proof.  Nature  visits  the  sin  with  the  heaviest  penal- 
ties in  every  department  of  the  complex  being  of  man. 
The  terrible  results  of  unchaste  life  in  the  purely  phys- 
ical realm  are  such  as  cannot  be  named  here.  They 
are  well  known.  Every  man  of  science  will  bear  testi- 
mony to  the  awful  demand  that  Nature  makes  for  pur- 
ity, and  will  assert  that  she  has  no  pity  for  the  unclean. 
The  statistics  of  lunacy  in  this  and  all  lands  could  tell 
horrible  tales  of  the  effect  of  unclean  life  upon  the 
mental  side  of  man's  nature.  Many  sad  stories  prove 
that  the  highest  spiritual  culture  and  usefulness  have 
been  marred  and  ended  by  the  sin  of  yielding  unlaw- 
fully to  lust.  The  perfect  unity  and  balance  of  spirit, 
soul,  and  body  is  destroyed  by  this  vice,  and  that  man 
or  woman  surely  and  irrevocably  commits  suicide  who 
falls  into  and  persists  in  unchaste  habits  and  life. 


The  Seventh  Commandment  79 

If  is  a  sin  against  the  Family.  The  sacredness  of 
motherhood  and  childhood,  and  the  demands  they 
make  upon  the  care  and  thought  of  all,  are  secured  and 
met  in  the  Divine  institution  of  marriage.  Wherever 
the  rights  of  the  marriage  relationship  are  violated 
and  set  aside,  God's  provision  for  both  is  broken  down, 
and  the  disastrous  result  of  the  breakdown  of  the  fam- 
ily circle  and  entity  results.  The  race  is  to  be  trained 
in  groups,  and  the  power  and  provision  for  such  train- 
ing is  the  government  of  the  essential  love  of  parents. 
As  the  fifth  commandment  clearly  teaches,  the  two 
sides  of  parenthood  are  necessary  to  the  nurture  of 
child-life.  When  the  family  is  destroyed  as  a  perfect 
whole  by  the  sin  of  unchastity,  an  incalculable  harm  is 
done  to  the  children.  There  is  no  more  heartbreaking 
announcement  in  the  newspapers  than  that  which  de- 
clares that  in  the  granting  of  a  decree  nisi,  the  charge 
of  the  children  has  been  given  to  one  parent.  Therein 
lies  the  destruction  of  the  family  after  the  Divine  pat- 
tern, and  the  sin  that  leads  to  it  is  indeed  terrible  for 
this  reason  also. 

It  is  a  sin  against  Society.  This  follows  from  the 
previous  consideration.  The  family  is  a  unity  of  indi- 
viduals sharing  a  common  life  and  governed  by  a  com- 
mon love.  Society  is  a  union  of  families.  Every  at- 
tempt to  create  society  upon  any  other  basis  is  wicked 
and  ends  in  disaster.  The  history  of  the  monastic 
orders  is  a  flaming  proof  of  this  fact.  The  attempts 
also  to  organize  societies  upon  bases  of  common  inter- 
ests of  trade  or  intellectual  pursuits  all  break  down 
«ooner  or  later.     Society  is  the  accumulation  of  fam'*- 


So  The  Ten  Commandments. 

lies,  and  all  the  human  inter-relations  of  property,  of 
reputation,  and  of  character  break  down  with  the 
breakdown  of  the  family.  The  sin  which  blights  the 
marriage  relation  and  destroys  the  family  is  the  enemy 
of  all  true  socialism.  All  the  things  that  may  be  had 
in  common  can  only  so  be  shared  as  it  is  for  ever 
understood  that  communism  in  the  realm  cf  sex  is  the 
most  damnable  sin  against  the  commonwealth. 

It  is  a  sin  against  the  Nation,  This,  again,  moves 
out  as  a  logical  sequence  from  the  former  considera- 
tions. The  adulterer  is  the  enemy  of  the  state,  and 
as  such,  after  being  divorced  in  the  divorce  court, 
should  be  imprisoned  by  the  criminal  courts.  The 
man  or  woman  upon  whose  guilt  the  marriage  tie  is 
broken,  no  Christian  minister  of  any  denomination  has 
a  right  to  remarry.  It  is  an  act  of  treason  to  the  state 
to  allow  such  persons  to  go  free.  They  should  be  in- 
carcerated in  separation  from  the  other  sex  to  the  end 
of  their  days,  and  then  they  could  not  wipe  out  the 
^vrong  they  did  the  nation  when  by  unchaste  action 
they  struck  a  blow  at  the  family.  The  greatness  of  a 
people  depends  upon  the  purity  and  strength  of  the 
people,  and  in  every  nation  where  the  marriage  rela- 
tion is  violated  with  impunity  the  virus  of  death  is 
surely  and  certainly  at  work.  This  is  at  once  proved 
by  the  lurid  lights  that  flash  from  the  decay  of  Assyria, 
Greece,  Rome,  and  in  our  own  times,  of  France  also. 
In  this  respect  it  is  most  true  that  "righteousness 
exalteth  a  nation,  but  sin  is  a  reproach  to  any  people." 
(Proverbs  xiv.  34.) 


The  Seventh  Commandment.  8l 

It  is  a  sin  against  the  Race.  No  man  can  deny  his 
accountability  for  a  share  in  the  development  or  de- 
struction of  the  race.  The  solidarity  of  humanity  is 
more  than  a  dream  of  visionaries.  It  is  an  indisputa- 
ble fact.  Every  life  is  contributing  its  quota  of  force 
to  the  forces  that  make  or  mar.  All  are  hindering  or 
hastening  the  perfect  day.  The  crime  of  prolonging 
sorrow  and  agony  lies  at  the  door  of  every  impure  hu- 
man being.  The  agony  and  wrong  of  degraded  hu- 
manity is  a  curse  upon  the  unchastity  of  the  past,  and 
every  licentious  and  bestial  man  or  woman  is  inflicting 
new  wounds,  not  only  upon  the  immediate  present,  but 
also  upon  the  years  yet  unborn.  The  voice  of  the  hu- 
man race,  so  often,  alas!  unheard  in  the  clamor  of 
the  interests  of  the  passing  moment,  is  thundering 
perpetually  the  Divine  command,  "Thou  shalt  not  com- 
mit adultery." 

It  is  a  sin  against  the  Universe.  The  life  of  the  uni- 
verse is  love.  The  origin  of  all  is  love,  for  "God  is 
love."  The  propagation  of  all  is  love.  From  the  high- 
est form,  that  of  the  unity  of  the  marriage  relation, 
through  all  the  lower  spaces  of  action,  love  is  the  law 
of  growth.  The  lair  of  the  wild  beast  is  fiercely 
guarded  by  the  love  that  holds  it  sacred.  The  nesting 
of  the  birds  is  token  of  the  impulse  of  the  love-life  that 
throbs  through  all  creation.  The  bee  that  carries  the 
pollen  from  flower  to  flower  is  the  messenger  of  the 
same  instinct.  Love  is  everywhere.  The  sin  of  lust- 
ful unchastity  is  the  violation  of  love,  blighting  and  de- 
stroying it.  Let  every  adulterer  and  adulteress  know, 
then,  that  their  impurity  sins  against  all  the  genius  of 


82  The  Ten  Commandments. 

the  universe,  and  if  they  but  Hsten,  every  pure  and 
holy  love  of  man  and  maiden,  every  devotion  of  the 
beasts  to  their  mates,  every  song  of  bird,  and  every  hum 
of  the  wing  of  summer  bee,  proclaims  the  heinousness 
of  their  offence  against  the  whole  creation. 

li  is  a,  sin  against  God.  This  has  virtually  been 
said  m  every  previous  argument.  Every  human  being 
is  made  in  His  image.  Of  every  family  He  is  the  true 
Father.  In  all  society  He  is  the  Shepherd.  Over  all 
nation?  He  is  King*.  The  race  is  His  own  to  its  utmost 
limit.  7  he  love  law  of  the  universe  is  the  will  of  God 
for  all.  Thus,  lastly  and  consequently,  every  impure 
act  or  person  strikes  a  blow  at  the  very  heart  of 
God.  By  ^n  eternal  necessity  He  excludes  the  "abom- 
inable .  .  .  and  fornicators"  (Rev.  xxi.  8)  from 
the  new  heaven  and  the  new  earth,  and  gives  them 
"their  part  iiP.  the  lake  that  burneth  with  fire  and  brim- 
stone, which  Is  the  second  death." 

Thus  the  seventh  commandment  is  seen  to  be  binding 
and  inexorable  because  of  the  purpose  of  God  that  all 
His  love  creation  should  reach  the  highest  platform  of 
perfection.  To  minimize  the  law  against  impurity  is 
to  deny  the  value  of  love. 

II. — Application  of  the  Command  To-Day, 

There  are  certain  signs  of  the  times  which  point  to 
the  necessity  for  a  re-statement  of  this  commandment. 

The  first  of  these  is  the  tendency,  which  is  only  too 
apparent,  to  loosen  the  binding  nature  of  the  marriage 
tie.  There  seems  to  be  an  increasingly  popular  notion 
that  the  marriage  relation  h  t  rivi^  owl  5^nly.    This  is  a 


The  Seventh  Commandment.  8^ 

vkat  error.  It  is  wholly  Divine.  The  lawfulness  of 
the  ntarried  state  lies  within  the  supreme  fact  of  sex, 
and  this  is  a  part  of  the  Divine  creation.  God,  who 
thus  Ci^ated,  has  conditioned  the  law  of  union,  and 
every  rmarriage  is,  therefore,  a  part  of  a  Divine  plan. 

Alas !  too  constantly  the  relationship  is  entered  upon 
without  any  recognition  of  God,  and  hence  the  awful 
misery  that  often  ensues,  for  no  human  being  can  tam- 
per with  Divine  matters  without  being  harmed.  Once 
the  union  is  consummated  it  is  for  the  period  of  life. 

There  is  (Vily  one  reason  for  its  disannulling  until 
death,  and  that  is  the  far  more  awful  fact  than  death, 
that,  namely,  of  fornication.  The  prevalent  notion 
that  incompatibility  of  temperament  is  sufficient  rea- 
son for  divorce  is  a  blow  at  the  very  throne  of  God; 
and  also,  therefore,  at  the  foundations  of  human  well- 
being.  Purity  inust  refuse  to  give  one  moment's 
countenance  in  Any  form  to  such  a  doctrine  of  hell. 
It  is  a  most  appalling  and  horrible  thing  that  to  this 
day  a  certain  woman's  literary  work  is  much  ap- 
plauded by  professing  Christian  people.  This  woman 
turned  her  back  upon  the  Divine  commandment  and 
spent  the  later  years  of  her  life  in  braving  out  her  ac- 
tion. No  book  that  she  wrote  shall  find  a  place  on  the 
shelves  of  my  library. 

Another  sign  cA  the  times  in  this  direction  is  the 
filthy  fiction  which  has  polluted  the  realm  of  literature 
in  recent  years^  fiction  in  which  the  marriage  relation 
is  treated  with  awused  pity,  and  whoremongers  and 
adulterers  are  pitied  and  excused^  if  not  defended. 
Such  literature  is  the  most  pernicious  prostitution  of  a 


84  The  Ten  Commandments. 

free  press  that  any  country  can  suffer  from.  A  writer 
who  once  publishes  a  book  or  an  article  which  under- 
values the  necessity  of  absolute  chastity  should  by  such 
action  put  himself  or  herself  outside  the  pale  of  true 
literature.  So  long  as  the  nation  is  in  thousands  of 
its  members  impure,  such  reading  will  be  provided  and 
read ;  but  surely  every  member  of  the  Christian  Church 
should  be  true  to  the  unalterable  law  of  love  expressed 
in  this  commandment,  and  that  not  only  in  their  own 
personal  lives,  but  in  the  influence  they  exert.  Then 
the  Church  should  refuse  to  give  any  countenance 
whatsoever  to  such  writers  or  their  books. 

Then,  again,  is  there  not  a  growing  danger  of  minis- 
tering to  impurity  in  the  multiplication  on  every  hand 
of  callings  for  women  which  throw  them  among  men 
and  give  them  wages  which  are  insufficient?  One  of 
the  greatest  curses  of  England  to-day,  both  for  the 
sake  of  her  sons  and  daughters,  is  the  employment  of 
young  women  in  the  hotels  and  tobacconists*  shops 
of  our  cities  and  towns.  At  this  point  I  may  be  old- 
fashioned,  but  I  confess  to  great  regret  that  the  con- 
ditions of  life  created  in  this  feverish  age  of  Mam- 
mon worship  have  made  it  necessary  for  our  daughters 
to  go  out  of  our  homes  at  all  to  secure  their  living. 
If  this  be  necessary,  at  any  rate  let  them  take  the  most 
religious  care  as  to  the  character  of  the  men  with 
whom  they  are  to  be  thrown  in  contact  day  by  day. 
Unchastity  has  begun  too  often  under  conditions  that 
seemed  to  be  honest  and  pure  enough. 

Then  how  one  would  thank  God  if  some  word  that 
was  not  prudish  or  narrow  might  be  spoken  to  the 


The  Seventh  Commandment.  85 

women  of  this  country  about  their  dress.  The  half* 
dr£5s  of  the  society  woman  is  surely  a  sign  of  reversion 
to  type,  and  has  in  it  the  pandering  to  animalism 
which  has  for  ages  been  the  curse  of  the  marriage  rela- 
tion. Moreover,  the  distortions  of  the  female  form 
that  are  common  everywhere  are  alike  an  insult  to 
beauty  and  to  goodness,  and  therefore  to  God.  I  am 
not  pleading  for  the  uniform  of  the  Salvationists,  nor 
even  the  bonnet  of  the  Pentecostal  League,  but  for  the 
becoming  and  beautiful  and  modest  attire,  which  shall 
have  no  possible  suggestiveness  that  is  not  in  harmony 
with  the  homage  and  reverence  that  man  should  ever 
render  to  woman.  This  is  a  subject  that  seems  to  be 
of  no  moment  to  some.  Let  every  daughter  of  the 
King  think  the  subject  out  alone  with  her  Master,  and 
that  which  I  have  failed  to  say  will  be  understood. 

And  yet  once  more.  There  is  an  anomaly  that  dies 
hard  in  the  distinction  that  is  being  made  between  the 
guilt  of  man  and  woman  in  this  matter  of  unchastity. 
When  General  Booth  issued  that  remarkable  book, 
"Darkest  England,"  he  said,  in  defence  of  his  using 
the  word  "fornication": 

"Why  not  say  prostitution  ?  For  this  reason :  prosti- 
tution is  a  word  applied  to  one-half  of  the  vice,  and  that 
the  most  pitiable.    Fornication  hits  both  sinners  alike." 

The  importance  of  that  statement  cannot  be  over- 
estimated. Until  the  man  who  sins  is  branded  with  as 
deep  a  scar  as  is  the  woman,  that  public  opinion  which 
shields  him  is  guilty  of  complicity  with  this  vice  which 
is  deadly  and  damning. 


86  The  Ten  Commandments. 

III. — The  Christian  Ethic. 

After  all  that  has  been  said,  there  yet  remain  the 
most  scorching,  withering  words  of  all  to  repeato  They 
fell  from  the  lips  of  the  Incarnate  Purity  in  that  mani- 
festo of  His  Kingdom  which  He  gave  to  His  dis- 
ciples during  the  days  of  His  sojourn  on  earth.  Let 
them  be  read  as  He  uttered  them:  "I  say  unto  you, 
that  every  one  that  looketh  on  a  woman  to  lust  after 
her  hath  committed  adultery  with  her  already  in  his 
heart.  And  if  thy  right  eye  causeth  thee  to  stumble, 
pluck  it  out,  and  cast  it  from  thee:  for  it  is  profitable 
for  thee  that  one  of  thy  members  should  perish,  and 
not  thy  whole  body  be  cast  into  hell.  And  if  thy  righ* 
hand  causeth  thee  to  stumble,  cut  it  off,  and  cast  'i\i 
from  thee :  for  it  is  profitable  for  thee  that  one  of  thy 
members  should  perish,  and  not  thy  whole  body  go  into 
hell.  It  was  said  also.  Whosoever  should  put  away  his 
wife,  let  him  give  her  a  writing  of  divorcement :  but  I 
say  unto  you,  that  every  one  that  putteth  away  his 
wife,  saving  for  the  cause  of  fornication,  maketh  her 
an  adulteress:  and  whosoever  shall  marry  her  when 
she  is  put  away  committeth  adultery."     (Matt.  v.  28- 

32.) 

If  this  law  be  obeyed,  the  impure  act  will  for  ever- 
more be  prevented,  for  this  ethic  passes  beyond  the 
act  to  the  thought.  According  to  this  teaching  the 
wish  proves  capacity  for  the  deed,  and  is  to  be  con- 
demned equally  with  the  deed.  In  order  that  impur- 
ity of  thought  and  desire  may  be  prevented,  it  is  profit- 
able to  maim  the  body.     The  eye  and  the  hand  arc 


The  Seventh  Commandment.  87 

precious,  but  not  so  precious  as  purity  of  spirit.  At 
the  severest  cost  the  law  of  love  is  to  be  obeyed.  He 
knew  that  unchastity  of  thought  and  deed  makes  spir- 
itual development  impossible,  and  therefore  repeated 
the  old  commandment  with  new  emphasis  and  mean- 
ing. The  word  of  Jesus  is  the  sternest  of  all,  and 
there  can  be  no  obedience  to  it  save  as  the  heart  itself 
is  purified.  The  grace  of  His  Kingdom  is  manifested 
here,  in  that  He  imparts  His  own  purity  to  those  who 
submit  to  Him,  and  thus  saves  all  such  from  the  un- 
holy and  polluting  influence  of  unchaste  conduct. 

The  duty  of  every  Christian,  and  of  the  Christian 
Church,  is  plainly  marked  in  the  light  of  this  word  of 
the  Master.  First,  of  course,  there  must  be  no  trifling 
with  impurity,  and  discipline  must  be  received  within 
the  borders  of  the  fellowship.  To  permit  known  wrong 
to  continue  unjudged  is  to  insult  the  Lord  Himself, 
and  to  rob  the  Church  of  her  power  of  witness  to 
purity.  There  must  be  no  intermarriage  between  the 
godly  and  the  ungodly.  The  high  ideal  of  the  family 
taught  in  the  New  Testament  can  only  be  realized  when 
the  marriage  relation  is  cemented  and  glorified  in  the 
common  loyalty  of  husband  and  wife  to  Jesus  Christ. 
If  the  Church  is  to  be  the  messenger  of  peace  and 
power  to  the  present  age,  there  must  be  no  room  in  her 
fellowship  for  any  person  who  in  any  degree  is  un- 
chaste in  speech  or  conduct ;  and  no  room  in  individual 
lives  for  any  act  or  thought  that  is  smirched  with  un- 
cleanness. 

It  is  for  those  to  whom  is  given  the  sacred  work  of 
teaching  the  will  of  God,  by  precept  and  life  to  repeat 


88  The  Ten  Commandments. 

the  great  purifying  laws  of  God  in  words  that  burn, 
*Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery";  ''Everyone  that 
looketh  on  a  woman  to  lust  after  her  hath  committed 
adultery  with  her  already  in  his  heart." 


THE  EIGHTH  COMMANDMENT. 

*Thou  shalt  not  steal."— Exodus  xx.  15. 

At  this  point  the  Decalogue  passes  from  the  discus- 
sion of  the  essential  facts  of  human  life  to  matters  of 
lesser  importance,  affecting  human  inter-relation.  By 
the  phrase  "of  lesser  importance"  it  is  not  intended  to 
suggest  that  they  are  unimportant,  but  in  the  words  of 
Jesus,  "Life  is  more  than  meat";  and  up  to  this  point 
the  commandments  have  forbidden  sins  which  inter- 
fere with  the  relation  of  man  to  God,  or  harm  in  any 
way  the  life  of  man  in  itself.  In  the  Mosaic  economy, 
violation  of  any  of  the  first  seven  commandments  in- 
curred the  death  penalty.  This  was  not  so  with  regard 
to  the  last  three,  proving  that  in  the  realm  of  compar- 
ison the  first  seven  are  of  greater  importance.  To  the 
mind  of  God,  worship  and  the  relation  of  the  wor- 
shipper to  Himself  are  matters  of  supreme  moment. 

The  rebellious  nature  of  sin  is  remarkably  evidenced 
by  the  fact  that  human  laws  have  inverted  the  order  of 
this  importance.  At  the  present  moment,  laws  protect- 
ing property  are  far  more  numerous  upon  the  statute- 
books  of  all  lands  than  laws  protecting  life.  It  would 
assuredly  be  wrong  for  man  to  punish  man  for  refusal 
to  worship,  or  for  worshipping  gods  other  than  the 


The  Eighth  Commandment.  89 

true,  or  the  true  in  ways  other  than  appointed ;  yet  it  is 
an  appalHng  matter  that  the  breakdown  of  active  and 
solemn  recognition  of  relationship  between  man  and 
God  is  hardly  counted  sin  at  all  in  public  opinion.  A 
preacher  may  denounce  murder,  impurity,  theft,  lying, 
in  terms  of  fiery  indignation,  and  he  will  carry  any 
ordinary  audience  with  him,  but  if  he  denounce  the  sin 
of  godlessness  in  the  same  terms,  he  will  most  probably 
arouse  the  resentment  of  a  large  percentage  of  his  con- 
gregation. And  yet  this  sin  of  rebellion  is  the  root 
from  which  all  others  grow.  Gradually,  however,  the 
best  opinion  of  all  men  is  being  conformed  to  the  Di- 
vine ideal,  and  the  age  is  coming  to  understand  that 
"life  is  more  than  meat."  Whether  it  can  be  said  that 
as  yet  there  is  any  approach  to  a  consensus  of  opinion, 
that  life  is  only  perfectly  conditioned  in  the  will  of 
God,  may  be  open  to  question. 

So  much  having  been  said  as  to  the  relative  value  of 
the  commandment,  now  turn  to  a  consideration  of  this 
law  dealing  with  the  question  of  human  possession. 
*Thou  shalt  not  steal."  There  is  urgent  need  for  close 
attention  to  this  commandment,  for  while  the  actual  act 
of  stealing  is  looked  upon  increasingly  as  vulgar,  yet 
the  day  is  characterized  by  a  multiplication  of  methods 
of  theft,  which  men  are  prone  to  speak  of  by  any  other 
than  the  right.  "Business  acumen,"  "the  habit  of  the 
trade,"  "imperialism,"  are  all  phrases  used  under  cer- 
tain circumstances,  where  the  true  fact  of  the  case 
might  be  expressed  in  the  one,  less  euphonious,  but  far 
more  truthful,  word  theft.  Even  in  the  realm  of  actual 
stealing,  if  the  person  perpetrating  the  deed  is  of  suffi- 


90  The  Ten  Commandments. 

ciently  good  social  standing,  one  is  apt  to  hear  of  klep- 
tomania. It  is  a  curious  thing  that  the  word  is  hardly, 
if  ever,  used  in  the  East-end  police-courts.  Let  there  be 
an  honest  facing  of  the  Divine  purpose  as  marked  in 
the  command,  "Thou  shalt  not  steal."  Consider,  first, 
the  command;  secondly,  the  light  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment upon  it;  and,  thirdly,  its  application  to  our  own 

time. 

I. — The  Command, 

The  command  is,  in  the  first  instance,  a  recognition  of 
the  rights  of  property.  It  gives  the  lie  to  the  dictum  of 
Proudhon,  the  father  of  anarchism; — La  propriiti, 
c'est  le  vol.  Property  is  not  theft.  Man  is  by  his  crea- 
tion able  to  possess,  and  to  deny  the  possibihty  of  pos- 
sessing property  is  to  make  theft  impossible.  In  the 
last  analysis  all  possessions  belong  to  God,  as  all  wealth 
is  created  by  God.  Man,  in  his  relation  to  God,  is  ever 
compelled  to  own  that  nothing  he  possesses  can  be  held 
to  be  outside  of  the  right  of  divine  interference.  Man 
in  relation  to  man  can  claim  to  possess,  outside  the 
right  of  human  interference,  this  being  clearly  recog- 
nized by  the  command. 

While  thus  recognizing  the  rights  of  property,  the 
commandment  forbids  any  violation  of  these  rights. 
For  illustration,  let  it  be  taken  for  granted  that  men  do 
possess  the  things  which  they  call  their  own.  It  will 
at  once  be  seen  that  there  are  only  three  ways  in  which 
man  can  come  Into  possession  of  anything:  either  by 
the  free  gift  of  another  person,  or  by  toil,  which  re- 
ceives something  as  legitimate  return,  or  by  theft,  the 
taking  that  from  another  which  belongs  to  him« 


The  Eighth  Commandment.  91 

The  commandment  recognizes  the  first  two,  and  for- 
bids the  third.  The  reason  for  this  will  be  discovered 
by  an  examination  of  the  three.  The  first  two  are  based 
upon  the  essential  laws  of  human  inter-relation ;  name- 
ly, love  and  work.  The  first  of  such  is  the  law  of  love. 
The  gift  bestowed  by  one  upon  another,  or  by  another 
upon  one,  is  an  expression  of  love,  and  becomes  the 
property  of  the  one  to  whom  it  is  given.  Something 
earned  by  toil,  for  the  possession  of  which  the  work 
done  has  been  a  legitimate  return,  in  that  it  has  also  ben- 
efited the  person  who  received  it,  is  property.  Theft 
violates  both  of  these  laws.  The  thief  cannot  love  the 
person  from  whom  he  steals,  and  it  is  very  difficult  for 
the  person  from  whom  the  theft  is  made  to  love  the 
thief.  The  thief  violates  the  law  of  toil  by  attempting  to 
possess  without  toil,  and  thus  to  take  from  another 
something  for  which  no  equivalent  return  is  made. 
Thus  the  commandment  recognizes  the  true  rights  of 
property,  the  rights  of  love  and  work,  and  forbids  the 
possession  of  anything  save  upon  the  condition  of 
obedience  to  these  laws. 

11. — The  Light  of  the  New  Testament, 

This  may  be  gathered  from  one  remarkable  passage 
— "Let  him  that  stole  steal  no  more :  but  rather  let  him 
labor,  working  with  his  hands  the  thing  that  is  good, 
that  he  may  have  whereof  to  give  to  him  that  hath 
need"  (Eph.  iv.  28).  It  will  immediately  be  seen  that 
the  argument  of  the  preceding  section  is  here  gathered 
tip  and  stated  with  startling  force.  Mark  well  the  an- 
tithesis.   On  the  one  side,  stealing,  the  false  method  of 


92  The  Ten  Commandments. 

possession ;  on  the  other,  working  and  giving,  the  true 
methods.  This  is  a  drawing  of  the  Hne  with  surprising 
definiteness.  According  to  this,  all  property  which  has 
not  been  obtained  by  working  or  by  giving,  is  stolen 
property.  Every  item  possessed  has  either  been  be- 
stowed as  a  gift,  or  worked  for,  or  stolen.  Apply  this 
to  much  of  the  social,  commercial,  and  national  life  of 
our  time,  and  a  great  deal  of  vaunted  morality  will  be 
seen  to  be  grossest  immorality. 

But  the  New  Testament  carries  the  idea  further,  and 
lays  upon  the  strong  the  burden  of  the  weak,  declaring 
that  property  is  to  be  gained  by  work,  not  merely  that 
it  may  be  possessed,  but  that  the  over-plussage  may  be 
given  to  the  disabled  brother  by  the  way,  who  has  lost 
his  power  to  work,  and  yet  may  not  steal.  Thus  within 
the  new  economy  of  the  "holy  nation,"  that  man  also 
steals  who  simply  works  for  the  satisfaction  of  his  own 
necessity,  and  fails  to  recognize  the  strenuous  claim  of 
the  common  life  he  shares  with  the  weakest  member  of 
the  new  social  order.  This  last  statement  has  reference 
strictly  only  to  those  who  are  living  immediately  with- 
in the  Kingdom  of  God.  But,  as  the  very  genius  of  the 
life  of  that  kingdom  is  that  of  caring  for  and  loving 
the  unfit  and  the  unworthy,  no  man  who  claims  to  have 
put  the  crown  of  his  being  upon  the  brow  of  the  Christ 
is  truly  loyal  to  his  King  save  as  he  wins  by  toil  posses- 
sions that  he  may  pass  on  to  the  most  needy  and  af- 
flicted. 

III. — Its  Application  to  Our  Own  Times. 

Broadly  stated,  the  eighth  commandment  forbids  all 
forms  of  communism  which  deny  man's  right  to  prop- 


The  Eighth  Commandment.  93 

erty.  Of  course,  the  word  property  is  used  throughout 
this  article  in  its  simplest  as  well  as  in  its  broadest 
sense.  Anything  honestly  obtained  Is  property,  be  it 
ever  so  small  or  large.  It,  moreover,  denies  all  right  to 
property,  save  that  of  gift  or  work.  All  that  a  man 
possesses  as  the  result  of  gifts  freely  bestowed,  or  of 
work  honestly  done,  is  secured  to  him  by  this  enact- 
ment ;  and  whosoever  shall  come  into  possession  of  any 
such  property,  save  by  the  free  gift  of  the  present 
owner,  or  as  return  for  work  rendered,  is  to  be  branded 
as  a  thief,  and  punished  accordingly.  Therefore,  the 
commandment  arrests  all  men  that  possess  anything 
which  they  have  obtained  In  any  way,  save  as  the  free 
gift  of  another,  or  in  return  for  work  rendered.  This 
commandment,  then,  strikes  at  many  different  forms  of 
stealing,  which  are  being  practised  to-day. 

Perhaps  It  Is  hardly  necessary  to  say  anything  con- 
cerning the  simple  act  of  purloining  articles  belonging 
to  other  persons.  This  is  universally  acknowledged  to 
be  vulgar,  and  petty  larceny  may  be  severely  punished 
through  the  agency  of  the  criminal  courts  of  the  coun- 
try. For  this  reason  very  largely,  thousands  of  persons 
who  are  in  heart  quite  capable  of  dishonesty  are  kept 
from  the  overt  act.  Even  in  most  respectable  and  moral 
society,  however,  some  forms  of  common  theft  have 
come  to  be  looked  upon  as  regrettable  lapses,  rather 
than  sin  against  God.  One  Illustration  will  suffice.  It 
would  be  Interesting,  but  extremely  painful,  to  pass 
through  the  homes  of  thousands  of  Church  members, 
instituting  a  rigid  examination  as  to  the  ownership  of 
all  the  books  to  be  found  therein.    The  habit  of  bor- 


94  The  Ten  Commandments. 

rowing  bcK)ks  is  in  itself  pernicious,  but  the  appalling 
extent  of  the  carelessness  as  to  the  return  of  the  same 
is  hardly  realized,  because  people  forget  that  to  borrow 
a  book  and  npt  to  return  it  is  a  theft.  If  these  sentences 
should  cause  the  discovery  of  some  of  my  books,  and 
they  are  returned  to  me,  I  shall  be  for  ever  grateful  for 
having  had  this  opportunity  of  enforcing  the  eighth 
commandment. 

The  sin  of  stealing  is  terribly  prevalent  in  the  matter 
of  fraudulent  getting.  In  this  age,  when  a  man's 
"worth"  is  estimated  by  the  amount  he  possesses,  the 
lust  of  possession  seems  to  destroy  the  principle  of  hon- 
esty in  thousands  of  those  who  in  other  matters  are 
scrupulously  careful.  In  certain  circles,  also,  trickery, 
dishonesty,  lying,  are  all  looked  upon  as  evidences  of 
shrewdness  and  acumen  in  business  matters.  The  com- 
mandment that  governs  a  very  large  percentage  of 
commercial  life  to-day  is  not  "Thou  shalt  not  steal," 
but  "Thou  shalt  not  be  found  out."  Unjust  weights, 
false  measures,  and  (by  far  the  most  common  of  all) 
lying  advertisements,  all  break  the  eighth  command- 
ment. Nothing  need  be  said  of  the  long-firm  swindles, 
and  the  bogus  companies  that  are  so  common,  save  this, 
that  God  Almighty  will  hold  every  person  guilty  of  a 
breach  of  the  eighth  commandment  who  has  given  his 
or  her  name  to  any  such  enterprise  without  having 
carefully  and  personally  examined  the  honesty  or  dis- 
honesty thereof. 

Then  the  whole  habit  of  gambling  is  of  the  essence 
of  theft,  and  this  for  the  reason  that  it  is  a  means  by 
which  men  come  mto  possession  of  property  which  is  a 


The  Eighth  Commandment.  95 

violation  of  both  the  laws  upon  which  property  may 
alone  be  held.  A  man  who  gambles,  whether  by  play 
or  betting,  puts  into  his  pocket,  money  for  which  he 
has  done  no  honest  work ;  and  by  the  very  act  he  robs 
the  man  from  whom  he  receives,  and  violates  the  law 
of  love.  Among  all  the  foolish  things  that  the  enemies 
of  righteousness  have  ventured  to  say,  no  person  has 
yet  been  found  foolish  enough  to  write  an  essay  on  the 
bond  of  brotherhood  existing  among  betting  men,  or 
the  social  possibilities  of  gambling.  It  is,  moreover,  a 
fact  that  ought  not  to  pass  unnoticed,  that  the  gam- 
bling fever  is  the  cause  of  more  petty  larceny  and 
wholesale  fraud  than  any  other  form  of  sin.  There  is 
no  more  insidious  evil  sapping  away  the  integrity  and 
uprightness  of  the  nations  of  the  earth  to-day  than  this 
lust  for  possession  without  toil,  which  lies  at  the  root 
of  all  gambling.  It  behoves  all  lovers  of  God  and  men, 
resolutely  and  without  apology,  to  thunder  the  words 
of  the  eighth  commandment  in  the  ears  of  all  gam- 
blers, whether  their  practices  are  gilded  by  the  glory 
of  a  court,  or  tarnished  by  the  vulgarity  of  a  slum.  The 
gambler,  whether  he  wear  the  purple,  broadcloth,  or 
corduroy,  is  a  thief  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  ought, 
therefore,  to  be  so  in  the  sight  of  all  honest  men. 

The  commandment  is,  moreover,  violated  by  all  such 
as  enrich  themselves  by  means  that  rob  their  fellow- 
men  of  the  inalienable  rights  of  human  beings.  The 
wealth  that  is  tarnished  by  a  death-rate  higher  than  Is 
necessary  is  ill-gotten  gains,  and  they  who  spend  their 
days  in  the  enjoyment  of  such  wealth  are  branded  in 
the  light  of  the  perfect  law  of  God  as  thieves — thieves^ 


96  The  Ten  Commandments. 

indeed,  by  the  side  of  whom  Bill  Sykes,  the  burglar,  is 
a  hero,  for  in  the  prosecution  of  his  unlawful  practices 
he  risks  his  life;  but  these  men  risk  nothing  but  the 
lives  of  their  fellow-creatures. 

The  commandment  is  broken  again  and  again  every 
day  within  the  great  realm  of  capital  and  labor.  How 
often  to-day  might  the  words  of  James  be  quoted  with 
advantage :  "Behold,  the  hire  of  the  laborers  .  .  . 
which  is  of  you  kept  back  by  fraud,  crieth  out ;  and  the 
cries  .  .  .  have  entered  into  the  ears  of  the  Lord 
of  Sabaoth."  It  is  lamentable,  but  equally  true,  that 
many  a  working  man  robs  his  master  in  that  he  with- 
holds his  fair  share  of  honest  labor,  while  he  takes  his 
wage.  To  capital  and  labor  the  eighth  commandment 
has  a  double  message.  First,  a  fair  day's  wage  for  a 
fair  day's  work ;  and,  secondly,  a  fair  day's  work  for  a 
fair  day's  wage. 

Principles  apply  to  individuals  and  to  nations  with 
equal  force.  This  being  so,  this  eighth  word  of  the 
Decalogue  is  a  severe  denunciation  of  the  false  imper- 
ialism which  is  growingly  manifest  through  all  the  na- 
tions of  the  world.  Strong  peoples  have,  without 
cause,  stolen  the  land  of  the  weaker.  Weak  nations 
have  been  handed  over  to  the  control  of  new  powers 
without  reference  to  their  own  rights,  and  to  the  wrong 
of  those  so  dealt  with.  It  would  be  a  humiliating  busi- 
ness for  men  of  many  countries  to  quietly  sit  down, 
and  examine  the  history  of  their  own  nation  in  the 
light  of  this  great  word. 

Those  who  pray  "Thy  kingdom  come"  should  con- 
sistently act  in  the  light  of  this  commandment  by  rec* 


The  Ninth  Commandment. 


97 


ognizing  the  right  every  man  has  to  the  things  be- 
stowed upon  him  as  gifts,  and  those  which  he  has 
earned  by  toil,  and  should  have  no  complicity  with  any 
form  of  violating  this  principle  of  morality.  The  com- 
munion of  the  Church  is  that  of  love,  not  of  theft,  and 
within  the  borders  of  the  kingdom  the  command  is  as 
binding  as  ever — "Thou  shalt  not  steal." 


THE  NINTH  COMMANDMENT. 

"Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness  against  thy  neighbour." 

Exodus  xx.  i6. 

This  commandment  has  a  two-fold  intention.  First, 
it  guards  the  reputation;  and,  secondly,  it  closes  the 
door  of  opportunity  against  unworthy  men,  who  might 
seek  to  enter  therein  upon  false  testimony.  Reputation 
is  of  great  value  to  those  who  desire  to  dwell  in  the 
government  of  God.  Such  have  seen  the  true  nature 
of  things,  and  have  discovered  that  the  only  shame  that 
can  ever  come  to  man  is  the  shame  of  sin.  Men  out- 
side the  Divine  government  are  ashamed  of  what  they 
speak  of  as  failure,  are  ashamed,  moreover,  of  poverty. 
To  be  little  and  unknown,  or  to  be  poor,  fills  the  heart 
of  the  average  man  of  the  world  with  terror  and  fore- 
boding. To  those  who  walk  in  the  light  of  the  Divine 
thought,  to  be  little  and  unknown  may  be  a  part  of  that 
Divine  purpose,  which  ever  moves  toward  glorious  con- 
summation ;  and  to  be  poor  may  be  a  part  of  the  condi- 
tion of  being  rich  toward  God. 


98  The  Ten  Commandments. 

To  all  such  the  only  thing  to  be  feared  is  sin,  and  a 
reputation  unsmirched  by  evil  is  a  most  precious  pos- 
session. In  the  last  analysis  it  really  matters  nothing 
what  others  may  think  of  a  man.  To  be  right  with 
God  depends  upon  character,  and  character  is  not  af- 
fected by  reputation.  Character  is  the  engraving  upon 
the  being  of  a  man,  of  the  true  facts  concerning  him- 
self. Reputation  is  the  estimate  which  others  form  of 
him.  The  latter  should  ever  be  dependent  upon  the 
former.  That  it  is  not  so  is  due  to  the  false  ideals  men 
have  of  success  and  of  greatness ;  to  the  shallowness  of 
the  popular  estimate  of  sin ;  and  to  the  contempt  of  the 
worldly  for  rightness.  Many  whom  the  world  has  con- 
demned have  passed  stainless  into  the  Divine  presence. 

May  it  not  be  reverently  said  that  the  Perfect  One  is 
the  supreme  example  of  this  truth?  Looking  at  Him 
and  His  career  from  the  purely  human  side,  He  lost 
His  life  through  the  sin  against  which  this  command- 
ment is  directed — that,  namely,  of  false  witness.  For 
the  comfort  of  those  whose  reputation  has  been  as- 
sailed, let  it  ever  be  remembered  that  "He  w^as  despised 
and  rejected  of  men";  and,  moreover,  that  He  said, 
"Blessed  are  ye  when  men  shall  reproach  you  and  perse- 
cute you,  and  say  all  manner  of  evil  against  you  falsely 
for  My  sake."  Yet  God  does  care  for  the  reputation  of 
His  own.  In  the  end  He  will  vindicate  them.  For  the 
passing  hour  He  guards  their  reputation  by  this  stern 
and  unbending  requirement,  and  those  who  love  His 
law  will  ever  remember  this  word,  and  refuse  to  rob 
any  man  of  his  acquired  right  of  reputation. 


The  Ninth  Commandment.  99 

The  commandment  has  also  the  other  effect,  that  of 
guarding  the  righteous  from  the  evils  resulting  from 
receiving  unworthy  men  upon  false  testimony.  The 
man  who  willingly  gives  a  rogue  an  entrance  to  some 
position  on  a  false  statement  of  character  shares  his 
roguery,  and  wrongs  those  upon  whom  the  evil  man  is 
imposed.  It  is  not  necessary  to  stay  to  consider  the 
subtle  and  far-reaching  power  of  thought  when  ex- 
pressed in  speech.  The  words  of  James  occur  natur- 
ally in  this  connection,  "And  the  tongue  is  a  fire ;  the 
world  of  iniquity  among  our  members  is  the  tongue, 
which  defileth  the  whole  body,  and  setteth  on  fire  the 
wheel  of  nature,  and  is  set  on  fire  by  hell."  More  harm 
has  been  wrought  in  human  society  by  false  testimony 
than  can  ever  be  stated  or  fully  understood.  Hence  it 
is  of  great  importance  to  carefully  examine  this  ninth 
word  of  the  Decalogue;  and  this  will  be  done  by  no- 
ticing, first,  the  simple  intention  of  the  command ;  sec- 
ondly, how  the  command  may  be  violated ;  and,  thirdly, 
its  application  to  present-day  questions. 

I. — The  Simple  Intention  of  the  Command. 

The  words  "Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness 
against  thy  neighbor"  demand  truth  in  the  statement, 
directly  or  indirectly,  made  by  man,  to  man,  concern- 
ing man.  As  the  third  commandment  forbade  the  tak- 
ing of  the  name  of  God  in  vain,  and  so  conditioned  the 
relation  of  man  to  God  in  sincerity  and  truth;  so  the 
ninth  reveals  the  fact  that  man  in  his  relation  to  his 
fellow  is  to  be  actuated  by  the  same  principles,  and  pro- 
ceed on  the  same  lines.    God  ever  deals  with  man  upoH 


joo  The  Ten  Commandments. 

the  basis  of  His  full  and  accurate  knowledge  of  what 
man  is.  The  Divine  attitude  towards  man,  and  deal- 
ings with  man,  are  not  governed  by  the  appearances 
which  man  desires  to  keep  up  before  his  fellows,  nor  by 
the  opinion  formed  of  him  by  his  neighbors.  No  truer 
or  more  weighty  words  were  ever  spoken  than  those  in 
which  the  Psalmist  describes  the  Divine  knowledge  in 
Psalm  cxxxix. :  "O  Lord,  Thou  hast  searched  me,  and 
known  me.  Thou  knowest  my  downsitting  and  mine 
uprising,  Thou  understandest  my  thought  afar  off." 

Upon  that  intimate  and  absolute  knowledge  God 
bases  His  dealings  with  men.  Such  also  is  His  purpose 
for  man  in  his  relation  to  his  fellow.  Human  knowl- 
edge is  of  necessity  limited,  but  limited  knowledge  is 
true  so  far  as  it  goes,  and  the  Divine  requirement  is 
that  every  man  should  sincerely  speak  of,  and  deal 
with,  his  brother  man.  The  intercourse  of  men  with 
each  other  is  to  depend  upon  actual  facts  of  character, 
conduct,  and  capability.  The  whole  social  fabric  is 
based  upon  testimony  that  one  bears  to  another,  and 
in  order  that  that  fabric  may  be  established  in  truth  and 
righteousness,  such  testimony  is  to  be  true.  No  man  "1 
must  be  helped  or  harmed  by  statements  made  concern-  | 
ing  him,  which  are  not  exactly  in  accordance  with  the  i 
facts  as  far  as  they  are  known.  Beyond  knowledge, 
therefore,  no  testimony  may  be  borne,  and  in  ^he  giving 
of  testimony,  no  facts  are  to  be  withheld  that  would 
alter  the  decision.  In  order  that  men  may  approximate 
in  their  dealings  with  each  other,  to  the  same  law  of 
rectitude  which  characterizes  the  Divine  dealing  with 
them,  the  opinions  which  one  man  produces  in  the  mind 


The  Ninth  Commandment.  loi 

of  a  second  concerning-  the  character  of  a  third  are  to 
be  simple,  exact,  true. 

II. — How  the  Commandment  May  Be  Violated, 

The  first  and  simplest  application  of  the  command- 
ment is  to  evidence  given  in  courts  of  justice!  The 
very  name  just  used  indicates  the  true  function  of  such 
courts.  They  are  tribunals  for  the  execution  of  justice. 
Justice  is  based  upon  truth,  and  any  false  testimony 
borne  is  a  violation  of  truth  and  produces  a  miscarriage 
of  justice.  For  this  reason,  therefore,  perjury  is  made 
a  criminal  offence,  and  rightly  so,  because  through  per- 
jury other  forms  of  crime  may  go  unpunished,  and  the 
innocent  be  made  to  suffer.  To  stay  here,  however, 
would  be  to  rob  the  commandment  of  more  than  half 
its  force,  and  because  the  majority  of  men  may  never 
have  had  to  give  evidence  in  a  court  of  human  law,  and 
yet  are  daily  in  danger  of  breaking  this  word  of  the 
Divine  law,  they  should  carefully  examine  the  seven- 
fold way  in  which  false  witness  may  be  borne. 

The  most  bare  and  unblushing  form  of  the  sin  is,  of 
course,  that  of  slander,  the  lie  invented  and  distributed 
with  malicious  intention.  Perhaps  no  form  of  injury 
done  by  man  to  man  is  more  despicable  than  this.  The 
person  who  makes  use  of  it  is  one  compared  with  whom 
the  highway  man  is  a  gentleman,  and  the  assassin  al- 
most kind.  The  highwayman  robs  of  material  things 
that  have  been  gained,  and  may  be  replaced.  The  as- 
sassin ends  the  life  by  swift  or  sudden  stroke,  often 
with  little  pain ;  but  the  slanderer  who  invents  a  lie,  and 
uses  it.  forms  a  weapon  which  takes  away  a  reputa* 


I02  The  Ten  Commandments. 

tion,  and  all  the  chances  are  against  its  ever  being  re- 
gained; and  thus  oftentimes  causes  untold  and  pro- 
longed suffering  to  the  innocent,  while,  in  the  majority 
of  cases,  he  himself  goes  undiscovered  and  unpunished. 

Again,  false  witness  is  borne  by  tale-bearing,  that  is, 
by  repetition  of  some  report  without  careful  investiga- 
tion. It  is  a  very  great  question  whether  tne  law  of 
libel  is  not  based  on  righteousness  when  it  provides 
that  not  even  the  truth  is  to  be  circulated  to  the  detri- 
ment of  any  person.  This,  at  any  rate,  is  certain,  that 
to  repeat  a  story,  if  it  reflects  upon  the  honor  or  char- 
acter of  any  man,  without  the  most  careful  inquiry,  is 
to  violate  the  commandment.  This  is  certainly  one  of 
the  most  common  forms  in  which  it  is  done,  and  the 
tale-bearer  perpetually  excuses  the  action  by  saying 
that  there  was  no  intention  to  deceive,  and  the  rumor 
was  believed  to  be  correct.  This,  however,  is  no  justi- 
fication. It  is  of  the  essence  of  wickedness  to  speak  of 
a  neighbor  in  such  a  way  as  is  likely  to  work  harm,  un- 
less the  statements  made  are  the  statements  of  simple 
and  actual  fact.  There  are  persons  who  seem  to  revel 
in  this  form  of  lawlessness,  delighting  in  the  very  havoc 
wrought  by  the  tales  they  tell.  ^ 

False  witness  is  also  borne  when  a  false  impression 
is  made  upon  the  minds  of  certain  persons  about  others, 
by  a  hint,  a  suggestion,  or  even  the  adroit  asking  of  a 
question.  Stigma  has  been  cast  upon  many  a  fair  repu- 
tation by  such  a  question  as,  "Have  you  heard  about 

Mr. ?"    The  answer  being  given  in  the  negative, 

the  questioner  says,  "Ah,  well,  the  least  said  soonest 
mended."     Nothing  further  can  be  drawn  from  him, 


The  Ninth  Commandment. 


103 


but  an  unfavorable  impression  has  been  created,  and 
the  innuendo  has  had  all  the  deceiving  effect  of  false 
witness. 

False  witness,  moreover,  may  also  be  borne  by  si- 
lence. When  one  man  utters  a  calumny  upon  a  second 
in  the  hearing  of  a  third,  if  the  third  knows  the  state- 
ment to  be  a  calumny,  and  for  some  personal  reason  or 
dislike,  or  it  may  be  of  fear,  remains  silent,  that  person 
is  as  guilty  of  the  breach  of  the  law  as  is  the  one  utter- 
ing the  calumny. 

Then  again,  the  imputation  of  motive  is  a  prolific 
source  of  evil.  Some  deed  done,  or  some  gift  bestowed, 
is  called  in  question,  not  because  they  in  themselves  are 
wrong,  but  because  it  is  hinted  there  was  a  reason  for 
doing  this  other  than  that  appearing — an  ulterior,  sel- 
fish, sordid  motive.  Some  sentences  that  mark  the 
methods  of  imputed  motives  are  so  commonly  in  use 
that  to  mention  them  is  to  reveal  how  prevalent  Is  this 
form  of  the  sin.  "Ah,  yes ;  he  knows  what  he  is  doing." 
"The  gift  was  only  a  sprat  to  catch  a  mackerel."  "He 
knows  which  side  his  bread  is  buttered  on." 

Flattery  is  also  a  form  of  the  same  sin.  To  say  to 
another  man  concerning  him  things  which  are  not  be- 
lieved to  be  true,  which,  indeed,  are  known  to  be  un- 
true, simply  _for_the  sake  of  pleasing  him,  and  paying 
^^'^l^J^hl^jy^}^y>  is  to  perjure  the  soul,  and  may  be 
to  imperH  his  safety.  In  the  same  way,  to  utter  unwar- 
ranted praise,  to  give  a  testimonial  of  character,  or  to 
recommend  a  man  simply  out  of  friendship  for  him, 
while  he  Is  known  to  be  unworthy  of  the  testimony 
borne,  is  to  inflict  injury  upon  the  person  to  whom  he  is 
thus  recommended. 


I04  The  Ten  Commandments. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  how  subtle  a  danger  this  of  false 
witness  is,  how  easily  and  almost  imperceptibly,  im- 
pressions of  other  people  which  are  untrue  may  be 
created.  There  is  no  word  of  the  Decalogue  more  often 
and  unconsciously  broken  than  this  ninth  command- 
ment, and  men  need  perpetually  and  persistently  to 
pray, 

"Set  a  watch,  O  Lord,  before  my  mouth;  keep  the 
door  of  my  lips." 

III. — Application  to  Present-Day  Questions. 

The  sin  of  bearing  false  witness  is  terribly  prevalent 
among  individuals  to-day.  It  would  be  a  somewhat 
startling  revelation  if  records  could  be  taken  of  all  the 
conversations  at  afternoon  teas,  Dorcas  meetings,  and 
all  those  institutions  at  which  women  do  congregate. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  men  are  also  guilty  of  much 
wrong-doing  in  this  way,  but  it  seems  a  peculiarly  fa- 
vorite form  of  iniquity  among  women.  The  habit  of 
talking  of  other  people,  discussing  their  affairs,  is  a 
most  pernicious  one,  filled  with  peril  to  those  who  do  it, 
and  to  those  of  whom  they  speak.  J[t  is  largely  indulged 
in  through  want  of  better  occupation  and^Iack  of  mental 
culture,  with  its  accompaniment  of  conversational 
power.  It  is  spoken  of  often  as  a  harmJess  vice,  the 
only  truth  in  that  statement  being  that  it  is  vice — ^harm- 
less it  by  no  means  is. 

A  whisper  broke  the  air, 
A  soft  light  tone,  and  low, 
Yet  barbed  with  shame  and  woe; 

Nov/,  might  it  only  perish  there. 
Nor  further  go ! 


The  Ninth  Commandment.  105 

Ah  me !  a  quick  and  eager  ear 
Caught  up  the  little-meaning  sound; 
Another  voice  has  breathed  it  clear, 

And  so  it  wandered  round, 
From  ear  to  lip,  from  lip  to  ear, 

Until  it  reached  a  gentle  heart, 
And  that — it  broke. 

There  is  also  abroad  to-day  a  great  deal  of  false  char- 
ity, which  always  works  larger  harm  in  the  end.  When 
out  of  pity  for  the  present  necessity  of  an  incompetent 
man,  he  is  recommended  to  a  position  for  which  he  is 
not  fitted,  his  final  failure  is  made  surer,  and  harm  is 
wrought  in  the  work  committed  to  his  trust.  This  is 
done  in  commercial,  literary,  political,  and  religious  life. 

Nations  and  societies  as  well  as  individuals,  may  be 
guilty  of  the  sin  of  false  witness.  It  seems  to-day  the 
perpetual  habit  of  certain  sections  of  the  press  to  im- 
pute motives  to  foreign  nations,  and  for  politicians  to 
heap  contumely  and  abuse  on  their  opponents.  Half 
the  unrest  in  Europe  may  be  said  to  be  due  to  false 
witness  borne  by  one  nation  against  another  through 
the  press.  It  might  be  a  good  thing  if  many  of  our 
politicians  and  pressmen  could  for  one  brief  half-hour 
divest  themselves  of  their  critical  capacity,  and  read 
without  prejudice  an  article  of  Marie  Corelli's  which 
appeared  in  the  pages  of  The  Free  Lance,  entitled 
"Manners,  Gentlemen." 

The  air  is  full  of  suspicion,  and  while  the  old  methods 
of  persecution  by  imprisonment  and  torture  have 
passed,  martyrs  are  still  being  made  by  the  process  of 
false  witness  borne,  ivhile  all  the  while  the  thunder  of 
^e  Divine  riat  sounds  over  the  age,  "Thou  shalt  not 


lo6  The  Ten  Commandments. 

bear  false  witness  against  thy  neighbor,"  and  the  Mas' 
ter's  words  are  still  found  in  His  manifesto  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  "Judge  not,  that  ye  be  not  judged. 
For  with  what  judgment  ye  judge,  ye  shall  be  judged; 
and  with  what  measure  ye  mete,  it  shall  be  measured 
unto  you.  And  why  beholdest  thou  the  mote  that  is  in 
thy  brother's  eye,  but  considerest  not  the  beam  that  is  in 
thine  own  eye  ?  Or  how  wilt  thou  say  to  thy  brother, 
Let  me  cast  out  the  mote  out  of  thine  eye ;  and  lo,  the 
beam  is  in  thine  own  eye.  Thou  hypocrite,  cast  out 
first  the  beam  out  of  thine  own  eye,  and  then  shalt  thou 
see  clearly  to  cast  out  the  mote  out  of  thy  brother's 
eye." 

Every  violation  of  truth  is  a  desecration  of  the  Dec- 
alogue, and  there  is  no  meaner  form  of  rebellion  against 
God  and  harming  one's  fellow-men  than  that  of  creat- 
ing impressions  which  are  not  true  in  the  minds  of 
others.  He  that  breaks  this  command  is  at  once  a 
thief,  a  coward,  and  a  liar — a  liar,  because  false  witness 
is  the  opposite  of  truth ;  a  coward,  because  a  lie  once 
started  on  its  way,  is  never  finally  overtaken,  and  he 
who  thus  aims  at  the  heart  of  his  fellow-man  gives  him 
no  chance  of  correction;  a  thief,  for  as  Shakespeare 

says: 

Who  steals  my  purse  steals  trash: 

But  he  that  filches  from  me  my  good  name 
Robs  me  of  that  which  not  enriches  him 
And  makes  me  poor  indeed. 

The  corrective  is,  of  course,  in  the  cession  of  the  being 
to  Him  Who  is  at  once  the  embodiment  of  truth  and 
incarnate  love-  Where  He  reigns  the  motive  3-«  love, 
and  love  ever  expresses  iiself  in  truth. 


The  Tenth  Commandment  107 


rHE  TENTH  COMMANDMENT. 

"Thou  shalt  tiOt  covet  th}'  neighbour's  house,  thou  shalt  not 
covet  thy  neighbour's  wife,  nor  his  manservant,  nor  his  maid- 
servant, nor  his  ox,  nor  his  ass,  nor  anything  that  is  thy  neigh- 
bour's."— Exodus  xx.  17. 

This  tenth  and  last  word  of  the  Decalogue  is  in 
some  sense  radically  different  from  those  that  have 
preceded  it.  It  is  the  last  requirement  of  the  second 
table,  and  most  distinctly  refers  primarily  to  man*s  rela- 
tion to  man.  All  the  former  commandments  have  for- 
bidden overt  acts.  To  disobey  any  of  these  is  sooner 
or  later  to  be  detected  by  one's  fellow-men.  This  final 
word  utters  its  solemn  warning  against  sin  in  the  inner 
and  hidden  life.  This  commandment  may  be  broken 
without  the  knowledge  of  any  human  being.  Sooner 
or  later  this  also  will  reveal  itself  in  some  overt  act, 
and  therein  lies  at  once  the  importance  of  the  com- 
mandment, and  the  consequent  solemn  responsibility 
resting  upon  those  who  are  thus  finally  warned  of 
danger  in  its  distant  places.  In  English  law  the  overt 
act  of  treason  is  distinguished  from  design  not  carried 
into  effect.  Yet  were  there  no  design  there  would  be 
no  treasonable  act.  The  peculiar  nature  of  this  com* 
mand,  therefore,  is  tliat  it  passes  below  the  externals 
of  conduct  to  the  hidden  activities  of  the  mind  and 
heart  and  will,  setting  up  the  kingship  of  God,  in  all  that 
strange  and  mystic  region  of  human  life.  Thus,  while 
the  tenth  commandment  distinctly  deals  with  human 
inter-relation,  it  sets  such  inter-relation  in  its  rig^it 
relation  to  Divine  supremacy.    This  truth  will  be  more 


io8  The  Ten  Commandments. 

evident  as  the  command  is  considered — first,  in  itself; 
secondly,  in  the  Hght  of  New  Testament  teaching ;  and 
thirdly,  in  its  application  to  the  conditions  of  today. 

I. — The  Command. 

In  examining  the  commandment  itself  it  is  well  to 
notice  carefully  the  word  which  is  made,  use  of  to  mark 
the  sin.  The  actual  word  "covet,"  in  its  original  mean- 
ing, implies  delight  in  some  object,  and  because  delight 
in  anything  necessarily  means  a  sense  of  desire  to  pos- 
sess, the  word  was  used  to  mark  that  desire  to  possess, 
more  than  the  delight  which  prompted  the  desire.  In 
the  repetition  of  the  commandment  as  chronicled  in  the 
Book  of  Deuteronomy  (v.  21)  two  words  are  used. 
The  first  word  translated  "covet"  in  the  Revised  is  the 
same  as  that  already  referred  to  in  Exodus.  The  sec- 
ond word  translated  "desire"  in  the  Revised  is  a  word 
meaning  simply  to  wish  for.  The  Apostle  Paul  in  quot- 
ing the  commandment  uses  a  Greek  word,  which  in  its 
different  forms  in  the  New  Testament  is  most  fre- 
quently translated  "lust."  It  is  often  rendered  "desire," 
and  sometimes  "covet,"  and  occasionally  "concupi- 
scence." These  translations  will  help  to  throw  light 
upon  the  word.  Its  essential  meaning  is  "to  set  the 
heart  on,"  very  literally,  "to  pant  after." 

The  sin,  therefore,  suggested  by  the  word  is  very  evi- 
dently that  of  desire  to  possess  something  which  be- 
longs to  another.  Notice  the  sequence  suggested  by  the 
very  word  itself.  The  eyes  rest  upon  some  object  which 
commands  the  admiration  of  the  beholder;  something 
which  is  to  that  person  delightful  and  to  be  desired. 
To  desire  to  possess  that  object  is  to  covet.   There  is, 


The  Tenth  Commandment 


109 


of  course,  an  unnamed  quantity  in  the  circumstances 
addressed,  something  which  is  not  wrong,  but  out  of 
which  the  wrong  may  spring.  That  unnamed  quantity 
is  comparative  poverty,  inabiHty  to  obtain  a  Hke  object 
to  the  one  admired  by  lawful  means.  That  condition 
may  give  rise  to  a  desire  to  possess  the  object  when  not 
lawfully  obtainable.  That  desire  is  the  sin  of  covet- 
ing. By  way  of  illustration,  a  person  may  see  a  pic- 
ture upon  the  walls  of  his  friend's  house,  admire  it, 
desire  it  and  then  purchase  one  like  it.  The  desire  in 
that  case  is  not  the  sin  of  coveting,  for  it  may  be  sat- 
isfied legitimately.  Where  the  object  admired  is  for 
any  reason  out  of  the  reach  of  the  one  admiring,  admi- 
ration merging  into  desire  to  possess  breaks  the  com- 
mandment. Herein  lies  the  searching  and  revealing 
power  of  this  last  word  of  the  Decalogue.  This  desire 
for  that  which  cannot  lawfully  be  possessed  is  dis- 
tinctly forbidden,  and  so  this  tenth  word  passes  much 
deeper  in  its  moral  requirement  than  any  that  has  pre- 
ceded it.  It  sets  up  God's  right  over  the  realm  of 
desire. 

The  whole  force  of  the  commandment  lies  in  these 
words  taken  out  of  the  commandment.  "Thy  neigh- 
bor's, .  .  thy  neighbor's,  .  .  his.  .  .  his.  .  . 
his.  .  .  his.  .  .  thy  neighbor's.''  This  is  a  seven- 
fold guarding  of  the  interests  of  another.  It  is  not 
wrong  to  desire  a  wife,  nor  a  man  servant,  nor  a  fcid 
servant,  nor  an  ox,  nor  an  ass,  nor  anything  that  in 
itself  is  right.  It  is  wrong  to  desire  any  of  these  when 
through  any  circumstances  they  are  out  of  the  reach 
of  the  one  desiring. 


!'■ 


no  The  Ten  Commandments. 

This  examination  of  the  commandment  in  itself  is 
enough  to  arrest  the  conscience  and  to  bring  man  to 
say  it  is  impossible  to  prevent  desire  following  upon 
admiration ;  and  this  is  indeed  true,  but  this  truth  is  the 
revelation  of  the  fallen  condition  of  humanity,  and  this 
is  what  the  apostle  meant  when,  in  his  great  argument 
on  the  relation  of  the  law  to  sin,  he  said,  "I  had  not 
known  sin  except  through  the  law ;  for  I  had  not  known 
/  coveting,  except  the  law  had  said,  Thou  shalt  not  covet ; 
but  sin,  finding  occasion,  wrought  in  me  through  the 
commandment  all  manner  of  coveting,  for  apart  from 
the  law  sin  is  dead."  That  sin  is  present  in  every  life 
is  evidenced  by  this  very  desire  to  possess  unreachable 
things.  This  sin  is  only  discovered  in  the  light  of  this 
commandment.  Well  will  it  be,  if  this  searchlight  of 
Divine  requirement  shall  so  astonish  men  as  to  drive 
them  to  Him  Who  alone  is  able  to  deal  with  the  unex- 
plored reaches  of  the  nature,  and  then  will  they  also 
be  able  to  say,'^"The  law  hath  been  our  tutor  unto 
Christ." 

The  value  and  importance  of  the  commandment  will 
be  gathered  from  a  consideration  of  its  far-reaching 
(?)  application.  First,  it  conditions  individual  life.  Covet- 
ousness  disturbs  all  the  highest  possibilities  of  life,  and 
finally  makes  them  impossible.  These  highest  possi- 
bilities are  indicated  in  the  apostle's  arrangement  of 
the  fruit  of  the  Spirit:  "Love,  joy,  peace,  long- 
suffering,  kindness,  goodness,  faithfulness,  meek- 
ness, self-control."  Covetousness  will  destroy  the 
bloom  and  mar  the  beauty  of  all  the  fair  cluster. 
Instead  of  love,  there  will  be  suspicion  and  hatred; 


The  Tenth  Commandment.  iii 

instead  of  joy,  sorrow,  heart-ache;  instead  of  peace, 
feverish  unrest ;  instead  of  long-suffering,  impatience ; 
instead  of  kindness,  cruelty ;  instead  of  goodness,  miser- 
liness ;  instead  of  faithfulness,  infidelity ;  instead  of 
meekness,  arrogance  ;  instead  of  self-control,  self-assur- 
ance. The  apostle's  phrase,  'The  goodness  and  severity 
of  God,"  was  no  accidental  combination  of  apparent 
opposites.  The  severity  of  the  tenth  word  of  the 
Decalogue  is  based  upon  His  goodness.  Though  it 
search  like  fire,  it  is  in  order  that  beyond  the  fire  cleans- 
ing of  the  soil,  there  may  come  the  verdure  and  fruitage 
of  Paradise,  in  order  that  "instead  of  the  thorn  shall 
come  up  the  fir  tree,  and  instead  of  the  brier  shall  come 
up  the  myrtle  tree." 

Secondly,  it  includes  in  its  scope  all  social  life.  Out 
of  disobedience  to  this  command  will  spring  sins  that 
break  every  law  written  upon  the  second  Table  of  the 
Law.  It  is  the  sin  of  covetousness  that  makes  it  possi- 
ble for  a  man  to  say,  "It  is  Corban,"  of  possessions  he 
should  use  in  honoring  his  father  and  his  mother. 
Criminal  records  will  prove  that  in  a  great  majority 
of  cases,  unholy  desire  was  the  inspiration  of  murder. 
No  word  need  be  written  to  demonstrate  the  fact  that 
the  look  of  concupiscence  ever  precedes  the  act  of 
adultery.  Theft  of  every  description  is  the  ofiFspring 
of  desire  to  possess  that  which  is  unreachable  by  law- 
ful means.  The  evil  spirit  that  makes  false  witness 
possible  is  motived  far  more  often  than  perhaps  appears 
by  covetous  aspiration.  Thus  the  whole  realm  of 
human  inter-relation  is  disorganized  and  broken  up 
by  the  dishonoring  of  the  tenth  commandment. 


112  The  Ten  Commandments. 

And  yet  again,  it  is  a  command  that  conditions  tht 
Divine  relationship.  The  sin  of  covetousness  proves 
that  the  soul  is  out  of  harmony  with  God,  and  dissatis- 
fied with  Him.  This  sin  issues,  therefore,  in  the  break- 
ing of  the  four  commandments  of  the  first  Table  of 
the  Decalogue.  It  is  for  the  accommodation  of  dis- 
torted human  life  that  man  has  created  other  gods, 
themselves  covetous  and  selfish.  Unsatisfied  desire, 
moreover,  issues  in  the  attempt  to  make  some  represen- 
tation of  God,  for  the  easing  of  conscience  which  per- 
petually cries  out  for  the  authority  of  Deity.  Pro- 
fanity and  blasphemy  of  all  kinds  result  from  the  pain 
of  a  hunger  that  finds  no  satisfaction  in  the  false  gods 
thus  set  up.  All  profanity  is  the  wail  of  lust.  The 
desecration  of  the  day  of  rest  is  due  to  the  restless- 
ness born  of  unholy  desire.  It  will  thus  be  seen  how 
far-reaching  and  searching  is  this  closing  word  of  the 
Divine  enunciation  of  morality.  The  first  command- 
ment and  the  last  are  closely  linked,  and  all  that  lie 
between  are  conditioned  within  them.  If  a  man  have 
no  God  but  Jehovah  Elohim,  then  will  he  covet  noth- 
ing, save  what  his  God  supplies.  If  a  man  covet  any- 
thing that  he  may  not  lawfully  obtain,  it  is  because  of 
hunger  deeper  than  that  born  in  the  coveting,  his  hun- 
ger, namely,  for  the  one  true  God. 

II. — The  Teaching  of  the  New  Testament, 

Turning  now  to  the  New  Testament,  nothing  can 
be  clearer  or  more  emphatic  than  its  repetition  and 
enforcement  of  the  great  principles  of  this  command- 
ment. The  words  of  Jesus  Himself  admit  of  no  mis- 
understanding.   They  were  spoken  in  answer  to  a  man 


The  Tenth  Commandment.  113 

who  asked  the  Master  to  satisfy  his  desire  by  compell- 
ing his  brother  to  divide  the  inheritance  with  him. 
"Take  heed  and  keep  yourselves  from  all  covetousness, 
for  a  man's  life  consisteth  not  in  the  abundance  of  the 
things  which  he  possesseth."  This  statement  He 
enforced  by  the  parable  of  the  rich  fool,  who,  notwith- 
standing all  his  getting,  found  no  present  rest,  and  yet 
with  acumen  and  concentration  attempted  to  feed  his 
soul  with  "goods,"  imagining  that  the  spirit-life  could 
be  satisfied  with  eating,  drinking,  and  merriment. 

So  also  Paul  ranks  "the  covetous  man"  with  the  "for- 
nicator," the  "unclean  person,"  the  "idolater,"  and 
declares  that  he  has  no  "inheritance  in  the  kingdom 
of  Christ  and  God."     (Eph.  v.  4-5.) 

James,  in  his  satire  of  the  rich,  that  is,  of  men  who 
have  attempted  to  satisfy  their  life  by  possessing,  and 
whose  whole  activity  has  been  actuated  by  desire  for 
gold,  shows  clearly  the  heinousness  of  the  sin,  and 
reveals  how  it  issues  in  the  breaking  down  of  the  social 
ideal.     (James  v.  1-6.) 

Peter  tracks  adultery  to  the  same  cause  in  his  burn- 
ing words,  "Having  eyes  full  of  adultery,  and  that  can- 
not cease  from  sin :  enticing  unsteadf ast  souls :  having 
the  heart  exercised  in  covetousness"     (2  Peter  ii  :i4.) 

John  declares  in  a  comprehensive  sentence  the  per- 
ishing nature  and  cause  of  sinful  life,  placing  it  in 
immediate  antithesis  to  the  permanence  and  cause  of 
holy  life.  "The  world  passeth  away,  and  the  lust  thereof, 
but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  God  abideth  for  ever." 
(i  John  ii:i7.)       -^ 

The  writer  of  the  letter  to  the  Hebrews,  in  his  con- 
cluding portion,  warns  those  to  whom  he  writes  against 


114  ^^^  Ten  Commandments. 

the  same  sin,  putting  covetousness  and  content  into 
opposition,  and  showing  how  the  first  is  rendered 
impossible,  and  the  second  made  simple,  to  those  who 
rest  in  the  faithfulness  and  fellowship  of  God.  "Be 
ye  free  from  the  love  of  money;  content  with  such 
things  as  ye  have,  for  Himself  hath  said,  I  will  in  no 
wise  fail  thee,  neither  will  I  in  any  wise  forsake  thee. 
So  that  with  good  courage  we  say:  The  Lord  is  my 
helper ;  I  will  not  fear :  What  shall  man  do  unto  me  ?" 
(Heb.  xiii:5-6.) 

To  return  to  the  teaching  of  Jesus,  a  striking  and 
forceful  statement  of  the  principle  is  contained  in  the 
remarkable  words,  *'  Ye  cannot  serve  God  and  Mam- 
mon" (Matt.  vi:25).  He  made  this  statement  after 
warning  His  disciples  against  laying  up  treasures  for 
themselves  upon  the  earth.  He  followed  it  by  declar- 
ing that  they  were  not  to  be  anxious  concerning  the 
things  they  should  eat,  or  drink,  or  put  on.  They  were 
rather  ''to  seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God."  The  sen- 
tence itself  is  most  suggestive,  as  putting  into  contrast 
the  two  camps  in  which  men  serve — God  and  Mammon. 
The  inspiration  and  force  of  service  in  the  camp  of 
God  is  that  of  rest  and  satisfaction.  The  stimulus  and 
spur  of  service  in  the  camp  of  Mammon  is  that  of 
desire  and  covetousness.  Man  serves  God  in  the  quiet 
force  of  his  rest  in  God.  Man  serves  Mammon  in  the 
restless  energy  of  his  desire  for  Mammon.  Herein  lies 
the  most  terrible  indictment  of  covetousness.  It  is  the 
fever  which  makes  the  eye  glisten  with  a  false  luster, 
the  cheek  flush  with  deceitful  color,  the  muscles  twitch 
with  unnatural  activity,  the  nerves  throb  with  restless 
desire.     It  is  the  service  whose  final  wage  is  death. 


The  Tenth  Commandment.  115 

Wherever  man  desires  anything,  small  or  great,  outside 
the  possibility  of  righteousness,  he  is  in  that  measure 
in  the  grip  of  a  fever  which  must  destroy  him  unless 
it  be  quenched. 

lll.~The  Application. 

Was  there  ever  a  day  in  which  this  great  principle 
needed  more  forceful  statement  than  to-day?  Is  it 
too  much  to  say  that  covetousness  lies  at  the  root  of 
all  the  evils  that  blight  the  world,  especially  its  so- 
called  civilized  portion?  The  oppression  of  feeble  races, 
the  inability  to  cope  with  the  outbreak  of  savagery,  the 
indifference  to  righteousness  that  alone  exalts  a  nation, 
the  toleration  of  giant  evils  that  sap  the  virtue  of  the 
people — these  all  may  be  traced  to  the  restless  and 
unsatisfied  heart  of  man  in  his  covetousness  for  that 
which,  possessed,  does  but  breed  new  desire.  Some 
great  words  are  being  dragged  through  the  mire, 
because  they  are  chained  to  the  car  of  the  unsatisfied 
god,  covetousness.  In  Mr.  Watts's  famous  picture  of 
Mammon,  a  terrible  indictment,  he  has  portrayed  the 
monster  as  of  enormous  proportions,  bloated,  and 
apparently  comfortable  in  his  swinish  overfulness. 
While  I  admit  the  force  of  the  picture,  had  I  the  art- 
ist's brush  I  would  not  so  paint  him,  but  rather  lean 
and  gaunt,  hungry  and  wild,  with  one  arm  clasping 
the  nations,  and  the  other  out-reached,  with  fury  on  his 
face  that  there  was  no  more  to  possess. 

Not  only  in  the  national  outlook  is  covetousness  dis' 
covered,  but^t  the  base  of  all  social  problems  lies  the 
jame^wprm  of  discontent.  The  greed  of  the  capitalist 
and  the  madness  of  the  anarchist,  the  brutality  of  great 


ii6  The  Ten  Commandments. 

corporations  and  the  superb  cruelty  of  un-Christianized 
democracy,  all  arise  from  lust  of  possession.  All  the 
individual  vices  that  are  robbing  the  nations  of  their 
young  men  and  maidens — drink,  impurity,  gambling — 
grow  out  of  unsatisfied  craving  of  the  heart — covetous- 
ness.  jlumanity;,  away  from  God,  covets,  jnd  no 
amount  of  getting  proves  to  be  gain. 

Oh,  that  the  words  of  Eliphaz  the  Temanite — ^true  in 
principle,  though  wrong  in  their  application  to  Job — 
might  be  sounded  out  in  some  such  way  as  to  convince 
belief  and  produce  obedience. 

"Acquaint  now  thyself  with  Him,  and  be  at  peace : 

Thereby  good  shall  come  unto  thee. 

Receive,  I  pray  thee,  the  law  from  His  mouth, 

And  lay  up  His  words  in  thine  heart. 

If  thou  return  to  the  Almighty,  thou  shalt  be  built  up; 

If  thou  put  away  righteousness  far  from  thy  tents. 

And  lay  thou  thy  treasure  in  the  dust, 

And  the  gold  of  Ophir  among  the  stones  of  the  brooks ; 

And  the  Almighty  shall  be  thy  treasure,  and  precious  silver 

unto  thee. 
For  then  shalt  thou  delight  thyself  in  the  Almighty, 
And  shalt  lift  up  thy  face  unto  God. 

Thou  shalt  make  thy  prayer  unto  Him,  and  He  shall  hear  thee ; 
And  thou  shalt  pay  thy  vows. 
Thou  shalt  also  decree  a  thing,  and  it  shall  be  established  unto 

thee, 
And  light  shall  shine  upon  thy  ways."  (Job  xxii.  21-28.) 

Surely  this  last  word  of  the  Decalogue  must  bring 
every  soul  who  honestly  faces  it  into  the  place  of  con- 
viction of  sin,  and  to  a  sense  of  utter  helplessness.  It 
may  be  men  have  passed  through  the  examination  of 
all  the  foregoing  commandments  with  some  measure 
of  self-respect  still  left,  with  some  consciousness  that 


The  Tenth  Commandment.  117 

they  have  not  greatly  sinned;  but  who  at  the  last  can 
stand  in  the  light  of  this  quick  and  powerful  word, 
and  claim  to  be  guiltless?  It  was  Paul  who  after 
thirty  years  of  Christian  experience,  reviewing  his  old 
life  as  a  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews,  could  say,  "as  touch- 
ing the  law,  a  Pharisee ;  as  touching  the  righteousness 
which  is  in  the  law,  found  blameless,"  who  yet  had  to 
say  that  when  he  faced  this  last  word,  "Thou  shalt 
not  covet,"  he  became  conscious  that  sin  wrought  in 
him  "all  manner  of  coveting;"  and  he  found  that  the 
commandment  which  was  unto  life,  was  in  him  unto 
death.  Very  few  dare  look  back  upon  the  past  and  say 
even  in  the  light  of  the  earlier  commandments  condi- 
tioning the  externals  of  life,  that  they  have  been 
^'blameless,"  not  one  dare  say  they  have  not  desired 
forbidden  things. 

The  study  of  the  Decalogue  must  therefore  be  closed 
with  a  confession  of  hopelessness.  In  it  there  is  found 
the  law  of  life,  but  not  life.  We  are  undone.  It  may 
be  possible  for  men  so  to  live  as  to  escape  the  detection 
of  their  fellow  men,  but  when  God  speaks  to  them  in 
the  secret  stillness  of  the  inner  chamber  of  their  being 
the  arresting  word,  "Thou  shalt  not  covet ;"  and  when 
Jesus  adds  to  that  His  word  of  exposition,  "Every  one 
that  looketh.  .hath,  .already  in  his  heart,"  they  bow 
their  heads  in  the  dust,  and  say  "We  also  have  sinned, 
and  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God."  Thus  the  com- 
mandments bring  men  into  the  light  of  Divine  require- 
ment, and  draw  from  them  the  confession  of  guilt, 
and  leave  them  waiting  for  the  Deliverer.  The  com- 
mandments without  the  Cross  utter  a  sentence  of 
death. 


ii8  The  Ten  Commandments. 


A  NEW  COMMANDMENT. 

"A  new  commandment  I  give  unto  you,  that  ye  love  oni> 
another;  even  as  I  have  loved  you,  that  ye  also  love  one 
another.  By  this  shall  all  men  know  that  y^  are  My  disciples, 
if  ye  have  love  one  to  another." — John  xiii,  34,  35. 

In  considering  the  Ten  Commandments  it  has  been 
seen  how  the  ethic  of  Jesus  magnified  the  law  as  given 
by  Moses.  Nothing  therein  minimized  the  value,  or 
lowered  the  standard,  of  the  Decalogue.  He  distinctly 
declared  this  to  be  the  case  when  He  said,  "Think  not 
that  I  came  to  destroy  the  law  or  the  prophets:  I  came 
not  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfill."  Both  in  His  life  and 
teaching.  He  fulfilled  the  law;  that  is,  He  filled  it  to  the 
full,  passing  in  deed  and  word,  beyond  the  mere  letter, 
into  the  region  of  spiritual  intention.  Those  who  had 
known  Him  as  Teacher  could  never  charge  Him  with 
having  substituted  the  traditions  of  men  for  the  com- 
mandment of  God,  or  say  that  He  had  so  explained 
the  commandments  as  to  make  them  simple  ^nd  easy. 
His  kingly  words  had  searched  the  realm  of  motive, 
and  had  spoken  in  authority  as  to  the  vital  importance 
of  character. 

He  uttered  this  new  commandment  when  He  was 
about  to  leave  His  disciples.  "Knowing  that  His  hour 
was  come,  that  He  should  depart  out  of  this  world 
unto  the  Father,  having  loved  His  own  which  were 
in  the  world.  He  loved  them  unto  the  end"  (John  xiii: 
I ) ,  These  words  declare  the  principle  underlying  His 
life.  It  was  that  of  l<we.  In  the  impulse  of  that  love 
He  girded  Himself  and  washed  the  feet  of  the  disciples, 


A  New  Commandment.  119 

thus  giving  expression  to  the  supreme  truth  He  had 
come  to  teach  men,  that  where  love  is  the  motive  of 
Kfe,  service  is  its  expression. 

He  then  commenced  His  final  teaching,  and  in  this 
connection  enunciated  the  new  commandment  which 
revealed  the  purpose  of  the  whole  economy  of  grace. 
In  Him  grace  had  its  epiphany,  and  in  him  grace  finally 
accomplished  its  greatest  work,  not  for  the  setting  aside 
of  law,  but  in  order  that  all  the  requirements  of  law 
may  be  met  in  activities  of  life  which  spring  from  the 
impulse  of  love. 

There  is  a  sense  in  which  the  commandment  is  not 
new.  "Beloved,  no  new  commandment  write  I  unto 
you,  but  an  old  commandment  which  ye  had  from  the 
beginning:  the  old  commandment  is  the  word  which  ye 
heard.  Again,  a  new  commandment  write  I  unto  you 
which  thing  is  true  in  Him  and  in  you:  because  the 
darkness  is  passing  away,  and  the  true  light  already 
shineth"  (i  John  11:7-8).  The  commandment  was 
old.  Christ  had  already  summarized  the  law  by  declar- 
ing it  to  be  love.  "Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God 
with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all 
thy  mind.  This  is  the  great  and  first  commandment. 
And  a  second  like  unto  it  is  this,  Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbour  as  thyself.  On  these  two  commandments 
hangeth  the  whole  law,  and  the  prophets."  Moreover, 
this  summary  of  the  law  was  embodied  in  the  Mosaic 
economy  from  which  Christ  quoted  (Deut.  vi,  5.  I^ev. 
xix,  18), 

What,  then,  is  new  in  this  repetition  of  the  old  com- 
mandment? The  answer  is  given  by  John  in  the  pas- 
sage already  quoted.     That  which  is  new  is  the  light 


I20  The  Ten  Commandments. 

shed  upon  the  commandment  by  the  life  and  teach- 
ing of  Christ;  which  by  the  time  John  wrote,  was  also 
shining  through  the  lives  of  His  disciples,  so  that  He 
was  able  to  say,  *'A  new  commandment .  .  .  which  is 
true  in  Him  and  in  you.'* 

Let  consideration  be  given  to  this  old  commandment 
in  its  new  light.  Notice,  first,  this  new  command- 
ment as  including  the  old;  secondly,  the  new  command- 
ment as  revealed  in  Christianityo 

I. — The  New  Commandment  as  including  the  Old. 

Every  breach  of  the  Decalogue  is  a  violation  of  love. 
It  follows,  therefore,  if  love  suggest,  control,  direct 
the  life,  there  can  be  no  such  breach.  With  regard  to 
man's  relation  to  man,  this  is  distinctly  taught  by  the 
Apostle  Paul  in  his  letter  to  the  Romans.  "Owe  no 
man  anything,  save  to  love  one  another:  For  he  that 
loveth  his  neighbour  hath  fulfilled  the  law.  For  this, 
Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery,  Thou  shalt  not  kill. 
Thou  shalt  not  steal.  Thou  shalt  not  covet,  and  if  there 
be  any  other  commandment,  it  is  summed  up  in  this 
word,  namely.  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thy- 
self. Love  worketh  no  ill  to  its  neighbour:  love  there- 
fore is  the  fulfillment  of  the  law"  (Rom.  xiii.  8-10). 
It  is  equally  true  of  man's  relation  to  God.  Of  such 
importance  is  the  understanding  of  this  simple  and 
sublime  principle,  that  it  may  be  well  to  recall  the 
whole  of  the  ten  words,  noticing  how  love  fulfils  them. 

If  man  love  God  in  all  the  breadth  and  beauty  sug- 
gested by  the  words  "with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all 
thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind,"  he  cannot  possibly 
find  room  for  another  God,  and  so  the  first  word  is 


A  New  Commandment.  12 1 

kept.  If  man  love  God  supremely,  he  will  not  suffer 
anything  to  stand  between  him  and  God,  thus  the 
graven  image  is  broken  to  pieces,  and  swept  away  by 
the  force  of  a  stronger  affection.  Out  of  love  will 
spring  that  hallowing  of  the  name  of  God  which  will 
dry  the  springs  of  blasphemy,  and  make  the  double 
dealing  of  the  hypocrite  an  impossibility.  The  Sab- 
bath will  be  eagerly  welcomed,  and  all  its  privileges 
earnestly  and  gladly  appropriated  when  it  is  a  season 
in  which  love  may  find  its  way  into  the  attitude  of  wor- 
ship, and  the  acts  of  service  flowing  therefrom. 

Passing  to  the  second  table,  and  looking  now  at  love 
in  its  working  towards  others,  it  will  at  once  be  seen 
that  the  only  sufficient  power  for  obedience  and  hon- 
our rendered  to  parents  is  that  of  love.  There  will  be 
no  thought  of  murder  until  the  awful  moment  has 
arrived  in  which  the  flame  of  love  has  died  out  upon  the 
altar.  Unchastity  of  every  description  is  love's  sure 
destruction,  growing  gross  upon  the  very  death  of  that 
which  it  so  vilely  personates.  All  theft  is  rendered 
impossible  by  true  love  for  one's  neighbor.  Love  sits 
as  a  sentinel  at  the  portal  of  the  lips,  and  arrests  the 
faintest  whisper  of  false  witness  against  a  neighbor; 
nay,  rather  dwells  within  the  heart,  and  slays  the 
thought  that  might  have  inspired  the  whisper.  It  is  love 
and  love  alone  that,  finding  satisfaction  in  God,  satisfies 
the  heart's  hunger,  and  prevents  all  coveting. 

The  new  commandment,  therefore,  which  is  an  ex- 
pression of  the  intention  of  the  old,  perfectly  states  the 
one  law  that  includes  the  many.  If  man  may  but  learn 
to  love,  he  may  walk  erect  in  the  light  of  Sinai,  *'with- 
out  spot,  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing." 


122  The  Ten  Commandments. 

Yet  this  is  but  imperfectly  to  state  the  fulness  of  the 

new  law.     To  love,  is  to  have  a  righteousness  that 

exceeds  the  righteousness  of  the  Scribes  and  Phari- 

^  sees.     It  is  to  do  more  than  can  be  expressed  in  the 

(letter.     Love  is  the  fruitful  tree  whose  branches  run 

over  the  wall.    Love  is  the  impulse  which  carries  deed 

far  beyond  duty.     Love  is  lavish,  prodigal,  imprudent 

often,  to  the  calculating  correctness  of  the  mere  literal- 

ist.     Love  will  take  its  precious  ointment  and  pour  it 

l. without  thought  of  cost  as  an  expression  of  itself. 

To  know  the  value  of  love  as  the  force  which  fulfils 
law,  it  has  to  be  contrasted  with  other  impulses.  Duty 
will  become  mechanical,  exact,  regular.  Love  will  take 
the  second  mile,  and  give  the  cloak  also,  the  second 
always  including  the  first,  the  cloak  ever  following  the 
coat.  Thus,  while  duty  may  keep  the  letter,  love  will 
enfold  it  in  an  atmosphere  that  glorifies  it.  Thus  it 
is  that  "scarcely  for  a  righteous  man  will  one  die :  per- 
adventure  for  a  good  man  some  would  even  dare  to 
die."  The  difference  between  righteousness  and  good- 
ness here  is  that  between  duty  and  love. 

For  the  sake  of  appearances  how  much  will  man  do  ? 
With  what  regularity  all  the  details  of  conduct  that 
are  watched  by  the  eyes  of  men  will  be  attended  to, 
lest  haply  the  observer  should  adversely  criticise.  Love 
cares  little  for  appearance,  will  often  startle  the  mere 
casual  observer  by  its  utter  disregard  of  what  the  criti- 
cal may  think,  if  it  may  but  serve  the  need  of  some 
lonely  soul,  or  carry  a  message  of  hope  into  some  dark 
dungeon  of  despair. 

Self-esteem  is  also  a  remarkably  stern  sentinel  of 
words  and  deeds.    To  maintain  his  reputation  man  will 


A  New  Commandment.  123 

often  suffer  much,  and  yet  how  often,  alas!  will  he 
break  the  law  of  God  under  this  very  impulse.  Love 
has  forgotten  self,  and  therefore  has  no  time  to  waste 
in  maintaining  reputation  or  ministering  to  personal 
satisfaction.  It  thinks  of  others,  serves  others,  and  so 
fulfils  the  whole  law. 

II. — The  New  Commandment  as  Revealed  in 
Christianity. 

From  this  bare  statement  of  the  case  there  will  be  no 
dissent.  To  perfectly  love  is  to  perfectly  fulfil  the  law 
which  was  uttered  in  love.  It  is  at  this  point  that  man 
becomes  conscious  of  his  own  impotence.  Who  can 
love  with  absolute  disinterestedness  ?  It  is  at  this  point 
also  that  Christianity  asserts  itself  by  revealing  the  love- 
life  in  a  Person,  and  communicating  that  life  as  a 
dynamic  of  love  to  others. 

Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  Love  Incarnate.  His  whole 
existence  was  the  most  perfect  expression  of  love  that 
the  world  has  ever  had.  It  was  therefore  the  fulfilling 
bf  the  law,  so  that  the  testimony  of  God,  man,  and  devils 
declares  His  perfection.  Thrice  the  Divine  voice  broke 
the  usual  silence  of  the  heavens,  in  announcment  of 
the  satisfaction  of  God  in  the  life  of  Jesus ;  the  Roman 
Procurator  uttered  the  true  sentence,  after  all  evidence 
had  been  given,  when  he  said:  *T  find  no  fault  in 
Him";  and  although  He  needs  no  tribute  from  the 
under-world  of  darkness,  it  is  a  significant  and  sug- 
gestive fact  that  a  demon  said  to  Him,  'T  know  Thee 
Who  Thou  art,  the  Holy  One  of  God,"  This  thrice- 
attested  perfection  was  the  result  of  His  perfect  love. 
He  loved  God,  and  proved  it  by  His  own  uncompromis- 


124  The  Ten  Commandments. 

ing  loyalty  to  His  will.  His  love  to  man  was  mani- 
fest in  His  attitude  toward  friends  and  foes,  In  the 
severity  of  the  anger  that  occasionally  flashed  forth 
against  tyrants  and  oppressors ;  and  in  the  unceasing 
tenderness  of  His  action  toward  the  oppressed.  What- 
ever question  is  asked  about  Christ,  the  answer  is 
somehow  conditioned  in  love.  Ask  concerning  His 
character,  and  answer  by  describing  the  characteristics 
which  in  their  sum  total  made  that  character,  and 
every  one  of  them  springs  from,  and  the  whole  of 
them  result  in,  love.  Inquire  what  was  the  reason  of 
all  He  did,  or  said,  and  again  it  will  be  found  that  He 
acted  and  spoke  in  the  impulse  of  love.  Examine  the 
direction  in  which  His  life  proceeded,  from  boyhood 
to  manhood,  from  the  secrecy  of  the  home  at  Naza- 
reth to  the  public  ways  of  the  Teacher,  and  ever  on  to 
the  Cross,  and  Hi?  pathway  is  the  pathway  of  love. 
Mark  the  activity  of  His  life,  and  never  in  the  records 
can  a  deed  be  discovered  save  such  as  are  deeds  of 
love.  Observe  the  time  of  His  coming  or  going.  His 
delays  and  His  hastenings.  His  retirements  and  returns 
to  the  ways  of  men.  His  whole  life  was  a  radiant 
revelation  of  love  itself,  and  love  as  the  fulfillment 
of  law. 

The  issue  of  this  life  was  at  once  a  mystery  and 
revelation  of  love,  crowning  all  that  had  gone  before. 
In  His  death  love  made  atonement  for  the  sin  of  the 
loveless.  The  difference  between  self-sacrificing  love, 
and  self-seeking  lust,  creates  the  necessity  for  atone- 
ment in  a  double  sense.  "Sin  is  the  transgression  of 
the  law,"  and  demands  atonement.  *Tove  is  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  law,"  and  provides  atonement.    One  of  the 


A  New  Commandment.  12$ 

first  evidences  of  the  principle  of  sin  in  the  life  of  man 
was  his  selfish  attempt  to  place  the  blame  of  wrong 
upon  another.  The  supreme  evidence  of  the  life  o^ 
love  lies  in  the  fact  that  love  takes  the  blame  attached 
to  others.  The  Cross  was  the  necessary  outcome  oi 
the  perfect  love  of  God  as  revealed  in  Christ.  "He 
that  knew  no  sin  was  made  sin."  Love,  having  ful- 
filled the  law,  was  faultless,  but  took  to  itself  the  fault 
and  guilt  of  all  who  through  lack  of  love  had  broken 
law.  This  is  the  supreme  mystery  of  atonement,  not 
here  explained  but  declared. 

Through  the  mystery  of  this  death,  love  became 
dynamic.  Herein  lies  the  lonely  splendor  of  Chris- 
tianity. It  was  love  that  was  able  to  say,  "I  lay  down 
My  life,  and  if  I  lay  it  down,  I  will  take  it  again." 
Taking  it  again  in  the  power  of  resurrection.  He 
henceforth  has  communicated  it  to  all  repentant  and 
believing  souls,  so  that  to  such  it  may  be  said  in  the 
words  of  the  apostle,  "Christ  in  you  the  hope  of  glory." 

Thus,  love  at  the  center  has  definite  relation  to  the 
whole  circumference  of  conduct.  Love  as  the  impulse 
of  life  produces  the  activities  of  love.  Love  being  the 
supreme  reason,  all  the  deductions  are  also  of  love. 
Who  shall  write  anything  to  describe  the  love-life  after 
the  poem  of  love  from  the  pen  of  Paul.  "Love  suf- 
fereth  long,  and  is  kind ;  love  envieth  not ;  love  vaunt- 
eth  not  itself,  is  not  puffed  up,  doth  not  behave  itself 
unseemly,  seeketh  not  its  own,  is  not  provoked,  taketh 
not  account  of  evil,  rejoiceth  not  in  unrighteousness, 
but  rejoiceth  in  the  truth,  beareth  all  things,  believeth 
all  things,  hopeth  all  things,  endureth  all  things.  Love 
never  faileth."    Within  the  compass  of  that  marvellous 


126  The  Ten  Commandments. 

description,  lies  the  most  perfect  unfolding  of  the  fuU 
filment  of  law  by  love. 

Herein,  then,  lies  the  severest  test  of  all  profession 
that  it  is  possible  to  discover :  "He  that  saith  he  is  in 
the  light,  and  hateth  his  brother,  is  in  the  darkness  even 
until  now."  Every  breach  of  law  is  due  to  lack  of  love, 
and  all  hatred  in  the  heart  is  due  either  to  the  absence 
of  the  Christ  within,  or  to  wilful  disobedience  to  His 
impulses  of  love. 

It  is  only  at  Calvary  that  man  can  do  without  Sinai, 
for  it  is  only  there  that  all  the  purposes  suggested  in 
the  code  of  the  mountain  of  fire  can  come  within  the 
range  of  possibility.  It  is  only  when  His  love  indwells 
the  spirit,  and  constrains  the  heart,  that  law  is  fulfilled. 
Let  but  Christ  reign  in  the  life  of  man,  and  thoughts 
will  be  born,  words  will  be  spoken,  and  deeds  will  be 
done  in  love.  Then  in  thought  and  word  and  deed  law 
will  be  fulfilled. 

It  will  be  profitable  to  search  and  try  the  heart  by 
the  new  commandment  rather  than  by  the  old.  Let 
all  the  deeds  of  the  days  be  tracked  to  motive,  and 
every  word  traced  to  inspiration,  and  every  thought 
probed  to  conception;  and  if  the  result  of  the  process 
be  that  love  is  discovered,  men  may  rest  content  both 
as  to  deeds  and  words  and  thoughts. 

Such  searching  must  result  in  deep  humiliation,  but 
it  should  also  drive  the  humbled  soul  into  the  new  life 
of  dependence  upon  Him  Who  was,  and  is,  the  Eternal 
Lov«. 


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